"It's like hitting the lottery and losing the ticket," said Tom Graul, after a horse he bred - 5-year-old Our New Recruit - rose from obscurity to win last weekend's Group 1, $2 million Dubai Golden Shaheen.
Graul, the proprietor of an upscale supermarket in Hereford, Md., sold all of his horses two years ago, as the result of a divorce. He also sold the 81-acre farm, Manor Glen, in Monkton, where Our New Recruit was born.
LAS VEGAS - Four weeks away and counting.
The Kentucky Derby is limited to 20 starters based on earnings in graded stakes, and time is running out for the 3-year-olds who need to acquire sufficient earnings to be included in what is expected to be a full and wide-open 20-horse field for this year's Derby. The horses in Saturday's Santa Anita Derby and Illinois Derby are having their final preps, and both stakes should be very revealing.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - When Evil Elaine, whose son Favorite Trick was named juvenile champion and Horse of the Year in 1997, died on March 22, she left a great legacy at Summer Wind Farm in Georgetown, Ky.
Karen Bailey, daughter of farm owners Jane and Frank Lyon Jr., will always be thankful for that.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Although Elusive Quality is not well known to the general public, this son of Gone West has become a favorite among perceptive breeders, and with racers such as Smarty Jones, winner of last weekend's Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn, Elusive Quality is destined to become more and more popular.
Want a formula for success in the horse business? Start with the right mare. Just ask Stanton "Bo" Smith and his wife, Stella.
The Smiths, of Millstone, N.J., found that mare with Fancy Pan, the first racehorse they ever owned. Now, 17 years later, the Smiths are making plans to attend this year's Kentucky Derby to follow St Averil, a grandson of Fancy Pan.
It was a winter of content for Florida's breeding industry. The mild weather was undoubtedly responsible for the breeding sheds being visited early and often. Pregnancy rates are running extremely high, according to reports from several major farms.
"The young stallion prospects who were given the time to make the transition from being racehorse to a working stallion have, for me, at any rate, been getting the job done," says Roy S. Lerman of Lambholm South in Reddick.
Lerman was referring to his first-season stallions Lido Palace and Express Tour.
The Fasig-Tipton Texas 2-year-old sale at Lone Star Park improved its results from 2003 in most categories Tuesday, showing some signs that this year's strong market for select juveniles is helping to boost regional markets.
The one-day Texas sale in Grand Prairie sold 192 lots for $3,507,800, up 42 percent from last year, when 152 juveniles sold. The average price also rose, by 12 percent, to $18,270. The median, though, fell 18 percent to $8,250. The buy-back rate fell from 43 percent last year to 31 percent.