"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.

New stallions offered in California for 2004 range from major stakes in the United States and abroad to a few durable claimers available at attractive prices. In nearly every region of the state, mare owners will have new stallions to consider at nearby farms. Here is a glance at the first-year stallions as well as several stallions who were relocated to the state since the conclusion of the 2003 breeding season:

First-year stallions

Amnesty

PEDIGREESTUD FEESTANDING AT

Fly So Free-PasampsiprivateFlag is Up Farm

Tom Clark is not your typical California farm owner. He lives in North Salem, N.Y., but still thinks of himself as a hands-on owner and makes regular cross-country trips to oversee the farm. In fact, the farm - located in Paso Robles, on the coast between Los Angeles and San Francisco - is a major part of Clark's daily life, even though he lives so far from it.

Half-brothers Decarchy and Empire Maker are going to stud for the first time this season. But the similarities end there.

At Juddmonte Farms in Kentucky, Empire Maker, a top 3-year-old of 2003, will stand for $100,000. Empire Maker, by Unbridled, finished his career with 4 wins in 8 starts - including wins in the Florida Derby, Wood Memorial, and Belmont Stakes - and earnings of $1,985,800.

Long experience and careful data collection show that the best racehorses form the most reliable pool for selection of the best stallion candidates. In the case of California's breeding industry, the best sire in the state's history was Rex Ellsworth's Khaled, a grand-looking son of Hyperion who was unbeaten in England as a juvenile and winner of the St. James's Palace Stakes the next year. He was an outstanding sire on the national scene, with Kentucky Derby winner Swaps as his best offspring.

When Applebite Farms general manager Matthew Lomas was working as a bloodstock agent in Argentina in 1997, a 3-year-old colt named Chullo was in the process of winning Argentina's Triple Crown.

"I was staying all over the province of Buenos Aires and heard so much about him," said Lomas. "I was scheduled to leave the next day, but I wanted to see him run in the Pellegrini, which is sort of like their Arc. I saw him win, and he was an absolute freak."

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Regular consignors to the Keeneland July select yearling sale have told Keeneland they would prefer not to have the July sale in 2004, but they'd like the option to bring it back in the future if market conditions warrant its revival.

The Keeneland July sale, once the most prestigious Thoroughbred yearling auction in the world, has become secondary to the company's September auction in recent years and was canceled altogether in 2003.

When the breeding season opens in early February, there will be approximately 235 stallions available to Florida breeders, according to Linda Leaf of the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders' and Owners' Association.

"We have 225 registered with us and there are usually a few last-minute additions," Leaf said.

When asked about the number of broodmares in the state, Leaf said the annual foal crop has remained constant for the past three years at 4,100 or so, and this suggests around 7,000 mares are in service.