Hard-knocking and workmanlike aptly describes the family of Water Cannon. And the 3-year-old gray gelding exhibited his work ethic in the Miracle Wood Stakes at Laurel Park on Feb. 28. Water Cannon won by a hand-ridden half-length while defeating, among others, the overwhelming favorite Capac, who had already appeared on lists of top Triple Crown contenders.

RAMONA, Calif. - When he was a young man growing up in California, Donald Cohn had an unusual dream. It wasn't about Hollywood or world travel or athletic stardom. It was about the land and horses.

The California-bred 3-year-old filly division has such depth this year that three of them are considered candidates for the $500,000 Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs on April 30.

House of Fortune, Silent Sighs, and Yearly Report have proven themselves on the national level - unlike the California-bred colts, a group that lacks a well-regarded candidate for the Kentucky Derby.

"This year is very unusual," said Hall of Fame trainer Ron McAnally, who trains House of Fortune.

But McAnally admits he may not have the strongest candidate.

POMONA, Calif. - After a quiet year in 2003, California-breds were back in demand at the Barretts March sale of 2-year-olds in training, just as they were in the first few years of this decade.

The top selling statebred at the Tuesday sale was a Swiss Yodeler colt named Swissle Stick, who was purchased by Bob and Beverly Lewis for $600,000. Swissle Stick tied for the second-highest price in the 2-year-old portion of the sale. An Awesome Again filly led the sale at $2 million; a Pine Bluff filly sold for $600,000.

When Unusual Heat entered stud in 1998, the partners who owned him were so eager to attract mare owners that the they waived the stud fee.

"The fee was please," recalled co-owner Madeline Auerbach, drawing out the last word for emphasis.

Six years later, most mare owners can not get to Unusual Heat. He was booked full this year at $5,000, live foal.

The success is quite a turnaround for a former $80,000 claimer whom no one wanted at the end of his racing career.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The position of commissioner on the California Horse Racing Board is one of solemn responsibility, fraught with consequence and charged with the integrity, health, and well-being of a multi-billion dollar industry affecting thousands of people.

POMONA, Calif. - A world-record trend in the select 2-year-old market continued at the March 2 Barretts auction in California on Tuesday, lifting the auction to markedly higher numbers overall.

This time it was a $2 million Awesome Again filly who broke the barrier, edging out the previous 2-year-old filly record of $1.9 million for Atlantic Ocean at this sale in 2002. John Ferguson, representing Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum, bought the filly.

POMONA, Calif. - A $2 million Awesome Again filly, a half-sister to the impressive 3-year-old filly Madcap Escapade, set a new world record for a 2-year-old filly as sale-topper at the Barretts March select juvenile auction Tuesday afternoon.

John Ferguson, agent for Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum, signed for the filly, who is out of the stakes-winning Saratoga Six mare Sassy Pants. Jerry Bailey, agent, sold the sale-topper. She had cost just $75,000 as a 2003 Keeneland September yearling.

POMONA, Calif. - The Barretts March select juvenile sale, bolstered this year by racing-age stock from The Thoroughbred Corp., got under way Tuesday afternoon with a $1.35 million early session leader in La Canada winner Cat Fighter.

John Sikura, owner of Hill 'n' Dale Farm in Lexington, Ky., signed the ticket for Cat Fighter, a 3-year-old Storm Cat filly out of Grade 2 winner Strategic Maneuver.

MIAMI - Only the dead were unaware of the heavy-hitters among the juveniles available at the Fasig-Tipton select sale of 2-year-olds in training at Calder on Tuesday. Yet the confluence of buyers with seemingly limitless budgets and a couple of dozen very exciting young prospects sent prices to unprecedented heights.

The world's record for a 2-year-old in training was broken not once, but twice, in the one-day session, and both the colts, one selling for $3.1 million and the second for $4.5 million, seem outstanding young athletes for racing both this year and next.