Until a couple of weeks ago, 2003 had been a nearly perfect year for Hugh and Achsah O'Donovan.
Perfectly, a homebred mare owned by the O'Donovans, closed out the year with her weanling daughter by Malibu Moon topping Fasig-Tipton's December mixed sale, which concluded Dec. 8. The price of $150,000 was a sales record for a weanling filly. The purchaser, Castleton Group, operates Castleton Lyons farm in Lexington, Ky., where Malibu Moon resides.
December and January is stallion showcase time in Florida. Stallion managers invite prospective breeders to look over their stallions and hopefully do some bookings.
Hartley/De Renzo & Walmac South is among the first to parade its stallions. Its stallion show is Sunday, Dec. 14, from 2-5 p.m.
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - Carl and Olivia Cannata will sell 65 horses at the Barretts January mixed sale, a dispersal that will largely end an involvement in racing that has stretched more than two decades and included the breeding of an Eclipse Award winner.
Carl Cannata said the decision to sell nearly all of their bloodstock was reached when real estate developers made the Cannatas an offer on their Riverside County property, Lakeview Thoroughbred Farm. They rejected similar bids in the late 1980's for the 160-acre property, he said.
Three stallions are lending themselves to the cause of higher education at an agricultural college in Cobleskill, N.Y.
Expensive Decision, Mighty Magee, and A.J.'s Band stand stud at the State University of New York at Cobleskill and are used as part of the teaching program at the college, located about an hour's drive from Albany.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - C. Gibson Downing is back in the horse business. Downing, whose family has owned Winfield Farm near Lexington since 1972, announced this week that he has hired an equine management company and a new broodmare manager to transform the farm into a commercial breeding operation.
With the help of Ron Wallace's Equine Farm Management Inc.; a new broodmare/nursery manager, Tanya Carlile-Johnson; and an agricultural grounds manager, Albert Burton, Downing plans to open the facility to about 75 boarder mares and their foals, as well as some layups.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - The brief but lucrative history of the Delta Jackpot shows that horsemen follow the money. The stakes is run at Delta Downs in Louisiana with a $1 million purse but without the distinction of a grade next to its name. That is certain to change, because the race is one of the richest in the world for juveniles.
And just as with the immense purses of the Breeders' Cup races, the Garden State Stakes, or the Futurity before them, the prospect of a big return on investment brings the horses.
This year's Kentucky Oaks winner, Bird Town, will be bred to first-year stallion and Belmont Stakes winner Empire Maker in 2004. Juddmonte Farms in Lexington, Ky., where Empire Maker will stand for $100,000, confirmed that Bird Town is in the stallion's book.
Garrett O'Rourke manager of Juddmonte, said that Empire Maker's book will be limited to 100 mares, of which 10 to 12 probably will be Juddmonte mares.
Bird Town, a homebred who raced for Marylou Whitney, won the Kentucky Oaks, Acorn Stakes, and Charon Stakes this year for trainer Nick Zito.
Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's two-day December mixed sale registered gains across the board at its closing Monday.
The auction, held in Timonium, Md., sold fewer horses than last year but still posted increases. Together, this year's two sessions sold 360 lots for $2,702,300, up 9 percent from last year's total for 378 horses. The average of $7,506 was 15 percent higher than last year's, and the $3,700 median gained 16 percent. The market's strength encouraged more consignors to sell this year, and the buyback rate fell to 23 percent from last year's 30 percent.
LAS VEGAS - The bandwagon is full. After Read the Footnotes won the Remsen Stakes, he became the flavor of the week for next year's Kentucky Derby.
While there is no doubt that Read the Footnotes is talented, the rush to bet him in the Kentucky Derby future book is premature. John Avello, the director of Bally's and Paris race and sports books, opened Read the Footnotes at 125-1, and after his Remsen victory had to drop him to 50-1.
Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's two-day December mixed auction in Timonium, Md., got off to a rousing start Sunday with increases across the board.
Sunday's opening session grossed $1,092,300 for 165 horses. That was up 33 percent from last year's first-day total when 188 sold. The average price jumped 51 percent, from $4,378 last year to $6,620. Median rose 32 percent to $3,500.