ARCADIA, Calif. - The Barretts sales company is adding a 2-year-olds in training sale to its calendar on June 29, giving the Southern California sale venue three juvenile sales in a four-month span.

But unlike the internationally prominent March sale or the locally popular May sale, which produce runners that often begin their careers in the summer, the summer sale of 2-year-olds in training and horses of racing age is expected to handle horses that will be active in the second half of the year throughout the Southwest and California.

Most owners or breeders had a conventional introduction to the Thoroughbred business. They went to the races with friends, grew up around farms, or lived near a racetrack. Not Bill Schettine, owner of Signature Thoroughbreds, one of Ocala's major stallion stations. He jumped in with only a few months of book learning.

Five years ago, Schettine, who owns a construction company that lays natural gas piping, was flying in a helicopter, monitoring a pipeline that was being constructed through the Ocala area.

For the first time in more than a decade, a win in the Maryland Juvenile Championship races may not result in being named champion Maryland-bred 2-year-old.

On Dec. 31 at Laurel Park, White Mountain Boy pushed his record to 3 for 3 with his dominating victory in the $100,000 Maryland Juvenile Championship for colts and geldings. Pour It On went from last to first to capture the $100,000 Maryland Juvenile Filly Championship at 36-1, while overwhelming favorite Richetta, seeking her fourth consecutive stakes victory, failed to hit the board.

LAS VEGAS - This is part two of a series on the freshman sires of 2004, with particular emphasis on how to bet their offspring. The sires' names are followed by their pedigree and the state in which they stand.

Grand Lodge - sire of such champions as Sinndar, Grandera, and Indian Lodge - was euthanized Dec. 24 at Woodlands Stud in Australia. An 11-year-old son of Chief's Crown, Grand Lodge had broken his knee in a paddock accident on Sept. 4.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Joe Taylor, the famed former manager of Gainesway Farm and father of Taylor Made Farm's founders, left a long legacy of teaching when he died on Dec. 19 at age 79.

Taylor never went to college himself, but a lifetime of raising horses made him a professor to dozens of central Kentucky's horsemen. He was master of many subjects, as John Gaines, former owner of Gainesway, wrote in the foreword to Taylor's 1993 book, "Joe Taylor's Complete Guide to Breeding and Raising Racehorses."

The racing of horses in the area that is now the state of Georgia has been a sport since pre-colonial times. There have been all sorts of hunt meets for flat runners and jumpers, but there never has been state-authorized parimutuel betting on these races.

This could change as early as next month when the Georgia House of Representatives Committee on Regulated Industries takes up House Bill 781, which would permit parimutuel wagering.

"Given a chance, it's easy to fall in love with horses," said Stan Salter, a young man whose own passion for horses is pushing him into uncharted territory. The son of the late Jack Salter, a longtime Maryland owner and trainer, Stan Salter grew up on the backstretch and exercised horses for a number of local trainers before attending Towson University as an electronic media and film major.

Salter, 28, is the originator and executive producer of a one-of-a-kind television show promoting Maryland's Thoroughbred industry.

The Del Mar yearling sale in August will be shortened from two days to one and may be moved to the Del Mar racetrack, officials with the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association have announced.

The sale will be held on the evening of Monday, Aug. 16. For the last several years the sale has been held over two days in mid-August at the Del Mar HorsePark.

LAS VEGAS - Every year at this time, Pedigree Handicapping takes a sneak peek at the new class of freshman sires. It seems like only yesterday that Fusaichi Pegasus became Mr. Prospector's only Kentucky Derby winner, but his first crop of 2-year-olds will be the center of attention next year. Other high-profile freshman stallions include Giant's Causeway, Behrens, Cat Thief, Dixie Union, Golden Missile, Stephen Got Even, and War Chant. In a twist of fate, Jeanne Vance, who died on Dec. 15, will never see the first crop of her champion Lemon Drop Kid race.