Popular Maryland stallion Allen's Prospect, the nation's leading sire in wins from 1999-2002, died Sept. 3. A 21-year-old Mr. Prospector horse, he was euthanized at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton equine hospital after developing complications from surgery to remove a tumor from his jaw.
Allen's Prospect was second behind Not for Love on Maryland's general sire list at the time of his death, with $2,277,548 in progeny earnings.
ELMONT, N.Y. - A New York-bred who has been somewhat overlooked this summer during all the Funny Cide hoopla is Whitmore's Conn, who won back-to-back graded stakes in July and August.
Whitmore's Conn, owned by Michael Shanley and his wife, Lyn, won his first Grade 1 in the Sword Dancer Handicap at Saratoga Race Course on Aug. 9. In his prior start on July 12, the 5-year-old won the Grade 2 Bowling Green Handicap at Belmont Park for the second year in a row.
Each winter hundreds of show horses, their trainers, and handlers come to the Ocala area for training and dressage.
A few of these snowbirds have put their feet in both the show horse and the Thoroughbred camps.
Francine Weiner-Govostes is a horse show lady-cum-Thoroughbred entrepreneur. From Canton, Mass., where she operates Green Lane Farm, catering to show horses - including her 2001 World Cup finalist Fresco - she recently bought an Ocala property and renamed it Green Lane South.
Pennsylvania's Day at the Races on Aug. 30, the celebration for state breeders that included five stakes worth a total of a quarter-million dollars, brought many visitors to Philadelphia Park. Among them were members of the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association's board of directors, including Roger E. Legg and his wife Gayle.
DEL MAR, Calif. - In recent years, Tommy Town Thoroughbreds in Santa Ynez, Calif., has grown in prominence through its yearling consignments, broodmare acquisitions, and as a stud farm.
Wednesday at Del Mar, Tommy Town had its first major success on the racetrack when She's Gottogetaway pulled an upset in the $100,000 Generous Portion Stakes.
The victory was a pleasant surprise to farm owners Tom and Debra Stull. Sent off at 28-1, She's Gottogetaway caught the heavily favored Dirty Diana in the final strides of the six-furlong race.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Starlight Stable's multiple Grade 1 winner Harlan's Holiday, who injured a right hind suspensory ligament in last month's Saratoga Breeders' Cup, will stand in 2004 at Mr. and Mrs. Brereton Jones Jr.'s Airdrie Stud in Midway, Ky.
The Harlan colt, now 4, will make his stud debut at a $17,500 fee.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - With his victory in the Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga, the unbeaten colt Silver Wagon is the brightest new toy on the 2-year-old playground. Running the seven furlongs in 1:23.47, Silver Wagon rolled home four lengths in front of previously unbeaten Chapel Royal, a son of Montbrook who topped the Ocala Breeders' Sales February sale of selected 2-year-olds in training at $1.2 million.
At the same sale, Silver Wagon sold to Buckram Oak Farm for $120,000, and he topped a Florida-bred exacta in the year's most prestigious 2-year-old race to date.
LAS VEGAS - With the Breeders' Cup fast approaching, it is not too early to take a look at the pedigrees of the European juveniles that could make their way to Santa Anita, particularly those by Storm Cat.
Thus far, the juvenile stakes winners in the United States appear to be sprinter-miler types, leaving this year's BC Juvenile wide open unless a late-developing juvenile appears in the near future.
Nice one for Miesque's Son
LEXINGTON, Ky. - With the arrival of peak mosquito season, veterinarians are keeping an eye on Kentucky's horse population for signs of West Nile virus. The mosquito-borne disease, which has infected 1,442 people and killed 21 nationwide this year, also has affected 22 horses and caused the deaths of nine in Kentucky. The number of equine cases may climb in September, traditionally the peak month for cases.
Hoping to prevent an infection boom in the equine population, veterinarians now recommend that horsemen vaccinate their animals more often to maximize protection.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Like a cherry atop the creme brulee, Dessert is a sweet result of the mating of leading sire Storm Cat to the top-class racemare Windsharp. Sweeping to the lead and repelling her challengers, Dessert became yet another Grade 1 winner for The Thoroughbred Corp. with her victory in the Del Mar Oaks last Sunday.
Dessert ran nine furlongs on firm turf in 1:47.04, winning by a neck over the Spinning World filly Solar Echo, bred and raced by Janis Whitham.