LEXINGTON, Ky. - Select 2-year-olds have become an especially hot commodity this year, and the Keeneland April 2-year-old sale proved the point yet again when it achieved a sale-record top price of $3.3 million Tuesday evening. The auction also set new marks for gross, average, and median.

The Thoroughbred Corp. has privately sold Johar, dead-heat winner of the 2003 Breeders' Cup Turf, to Richard Santulli and George Prussin's Jayeff B Stables, which will stand him at Mill Ridge Farm beginning in 2005. His fee will be set later this year.

Johar is set to arrive at Mill Ridge in Lexington, Ky., on Friday at 11:30 a.m.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The Keeneland 2-year-old sale on Tuesday continued a record-breaking season for the nation's major juvenile auctions, setting a new sale record of $3.3 million for a Pulpit colt. The previous record of $2 million was set in 1999 for the Not For Love colt La Salle Street.

A Danehill colt set a sale record of $2.2 million (Australian) at the first session of the William Inglis auction house's Easter yearling sale in Australia on Tuesday.

The price, approximately $1,662,540 U.S., broke the record of $1.7 million (Australian) set by a Sunday Silence colt at last year's Easter auction.

Melbourne-based trainer Lee Freedman signed for the colt, who is out of Prawn Cocktail. Coolmore Australia, agent, was the seller.

LAS VEGAS - While it is highly unlikely that Saturday's Lexington Stakes will provide the winner of this year's Kentucky Derby, the race features a tightly matched group of not-ready-for-prime-time players that includes a ton of speed will do battle in the season's final Derby prep.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The Keeneland April 2-year-old sale gets under way Tuesday in an atmosphere of unprecedented prosperity for the juvenile market. Fueled by the attendance of such important buyers as Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum and Fusao Sekiguchi, the major select 2-year-old auctions so far this year have produced world-record prices, and the question now is whether Keeneland can continue the trend.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Some were surprised that Castledale, who had run most of his races on turf, won the Santa Anita Derby last Saturday. But a closer look at his pedigree shows that he might have been expected to handle racing on dirt just fine.

By Arc de Triomphe winner Peintre Celebre, Castledale, winner of last week's Santa Anita Derby, began his racing career last year in England, and Castledale's best race overseas last year was the Blenheim Stakes, a listed event in Ireland. Castledale finished first in the race, but he lost it on disqualification to Colossus.

Brothers Eric and Albert Wirth of Douglaston, N.Y., teamed up to purchase their first Thoroughbred in the late 1960's, and have been breeding and racing horses, primarily in Maryland, ever since. One of their newest players, the promising 3-year-old Maryland-bred filly Spirited Game, conditioned by the brothers' longtime trainer Ron Cartwright, scored one for the home team when she won the Smart Halo Stakes on April 4 at Pimlico.

The first-quarter data for 2004 is on record and the numbers are bullish for much of Florida's Thoroughbred industry. All the Florida sales, mixed as well as 2-year-old auctions, have been either approached or broken records.

A newcomer at the top of Florida's leading sire roster is Halo's Image. Halo's Image is a son of Halo out of the stakes-winning Valid Appeal mare Sugar's Image. The late Valid Appeal has been for several years Florida's leading broodmare sire.

A small but select group of New York-bred 2-year-olds will be offered for sale at Keeneland on Tuesday.

Here's a look at the horses representing the Empire State:

Hip No. 6: A Two Punch filly foaled in May and the first registered foal out of the Pine Bluff mare Very Reasonable. The filly's second dam, Stay a Leader, was a stakes winner and producer. The filly's breeders, Berkshire Stud and Oak Cliff Stable, bred Private Emblem, the champion 3-year-old New York-bred in 2002, and Rhum, the New York-bred champion turf female in 2002.