LEXINGTON, Ky. - Kentucky's fall breeding stock auctions begin Sunday night at Fasig-Tipton, where a small but select catalog is highlighted by a strong group of broodmares, including the dams of Golden Missile and Graeme Hall.
Fasig-Tipton's selected fall mixed sale, which has 101 entries this year, enjoyed solid financial returns last year. Though small, the auction has developed a niche for sellers, said Fasig-Tipton chief operating officer Boyd Browning.
Volponi, winner of the 2002 Breeders' Cup Classic, will enter stud at Rick and Liz Trontz's Hopewell Farm in Midway, Ky., in 2004. He will stand for $10,000.
Volponi, a 5-year-old Cryptoclearance horse, was retired earlier this week with a record of 31-7-12-5 and earnings of $3,187,232. He last raced in the Oct. 25 Breeders' Cup Classic in an attempt to defend his 2002 title in the race, but he finished last in a rare out-of-the money finish.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - A victory in one of the Breeders' Cup races annually means a boost in price for someone at the Keeneland November breeding stock sale. Last year, the winner of the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf, Starine, sold out of the Mill Ridge Sales consignment at the November sale for $1 million to Newsells Park Stud.
When Johar and High Chaparral created the first dead heat in Breeders' Cup history in last weekend's Turf, Windsharp, Johar's dam, became perhaps the hottest producer in the Keeneland sale. Windsharp will go through the ring Tuesday as Hip No. 508.
Florida's new stallion lineup for the 2004 breeding season looks to be the strongest in years. Entering stud in the Sunshine State are Lido Palace at Lambholm South and Macho Uno at Adena Springs South. Both horses are Grade 1 winners.
At least 10 more graded stakes winners will stand in Florida for the first time next year, including Essence of Dubai (Hartley-DeRenzo Walmac South), Repent (Clover Leaf II), Dollar Bill (Signature Thoroughbreds), and Scottish Halo (Jubilee Farm).
Long before the Breeders' Cup, or the Maryland Million, Charles Town's Tri-State Futurity offered tantalizing rewards for breeders with a far-sighted approach to the business.
First run in 1962 (and halted for eight years, from 1994 until returning in 2002), the Tri-State Futurity is restricted to 2-year-olds foaled in Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia, and is a true futurity, meaning that foals must be nominated before they are born.
Prices fell in major categories at the October mixed sale at Barretts in Pomona earlier this week, a reverse from the 2002 sale which showed substantial increases over 2001.
This year's sale was the largest event in the 13-year history of Barretts - 782 weanlings, yearlings, horses of racing age, broodmares, and stallions.
The New York Thoroughbred Breeders is beginning the nomination process for six new directors for two-year terms that begin Jan. 1, 2004.
The two-year terms for six of the 11 NYTB directors - those of Dr. Frank Ariosta, Chester Broman, Vivien Malloy, Suzie O'Cain, Barry Ostrager, and Paul Schosberg - will expire on Dec. 31. Five of the six directors, Schosberg being the exception, will seek re-election.
Wake at Noon, Canada's reigning Horse of the Year, enters stud next spring at the farm of his owner and breeder, Bruno Schickedanz, in Kettleby, Ontario.
A 6-year-old son of Cure the Blues out of Sermon Time, Wake at Noon is expected to compete in the Woodbine Slots Cup on Nov. 8 and perhaps once more before he is retired.
WinStar Farm in Versailles, Ky., which announced in October that it would raise Distorted Humor's fee from $20,000 to $50,000 in 2004, also will double Victory Gallop's fee, to $30,000.
Victory Gallop, an 8-year-old son of Cryptoclearance, is the nation's second-leading freshman sire this year. His leading earner is Victory U. S. A., who finished third in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies and second in the Frizette.
* Twining, the sire of Two Item Limit, will head for Japan after completing the Southern Hemisphere breeding season in Australia.