ELMONT, N.Y. - The news was good for the New York breeding industry when The Jockey Club released its breeding statistics for 2002 recently.

New York stallions experienced a nearly 11 percent increase in the number of live-foal reports from last year to this year. In 2002, through Sept. 8, there were 1,317 live-foal reports sent to The Jockey Club on New York sires, compared to this year's 1,459 for the same time period.

The Jockey Club indicated that the reporting on these statistics is about 90 percent complete.

Reviews were mixed for Woodbine's premier yearling sale, which ended on Sept. 6 following a select and two open sessions.

Slight increases in gross sales (2.5 percent) and average price (1.8 percent) on the select side made for a steady market for Canadian-bred yearlings, sold by the Fasig-Tipton Sales Co.

Charlotte Weber's Live Oak Stud is Ocala's biggest farm property. It consists of 4,500 acres - 1,000 of them devoted to Thoroughbreds, the remainder for general agricultural business.

Eric J. Hamelback, who a year ago was assistant farm manager for Adena Springs Farm's Kentucky division, is the general manager for Live Oak Stud.

New Jersey became the latest state to have a special race day to celebrate its homegrown product, the inaugural New Jersey Thoroughbred Festival, which took place Sept. 20 at Monmouth Park.

"The whole thing went even better than we hoped," said Mike Campbell, executive director of the Thoroughbred Breeders' Association of New Jersey. "The turnout was great [a crowd of 9,100 ontrack]. And the support for each of the races was excellent."

The phone at Jack and Barb Hatch's ranch home in Galt, Calif., rings more frequently these days, a month after the mom-and-pop operation consigned the sale topper to the Del Mar yearling sale.

From a five-horse offering, the Hatches topped the sale with a Smokester colt who sold for $160,000.

"Everyone has called and congratulated us," Barb Hatch said earlier this week. "They've been happy for us. Even people from Kentucky we knew from the sales. It's been quite exciting."

LAS VEGAS - Washington State is proving to be fertile ground for some well-bred stallions, and they were center stage last Sunday, when beautiful Emerald Downs, with majestic Mt. Rainier as a backdrop, hosted the inaugural running of Washington Cup Day - eight stakes on a 10-race program.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - According to the Breeders' Cup future bet, the heaviest favorite among the Breeders' Cup contenders is the juvenile filly Halfbridled. She is a daughter of Breeders' Cup Classic winner Unbridled and Half Queen, by Deputy Minister, who sired a pair of Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies winners.

Halfbridled, a big bay filly, is undefeated in two starts, and her most recent effort in winning the Del Mar Debutante by five lengths over Hollywood Story has made Halfbridled the premier player in this year's run-up to the Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita on Oct. 25.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Grade 1 winner and 2003 Haskell runner-up Sky Mesa has been retired from racing and will enter stud at Kentucky's Three Chimneys Farm. The 3-year-old Pulpit colt will stand his initial year for a $30,000 stud fee.

Margaret Grimm's Grade 1 winner Ms. Eloise, dam of Grade 3 winner Bibury Court and five other stakes performers, died of natural causes at Loch Ness Farm in Paris, Ky., on Sept. 12. The Nasty and Bold mare was 20.

Ms. Eloise had an illustrious career at the races, winning the Grade 1 Top Flight and Shuvee handicaps among six other stakes, and earning more than $870,000. She won or placed in Grade 1 company five times in a career that spanned four racing seasons.

Owner and breeder William Schettine has decided not to sell 58 mares and weanlings he had entered in Keeneland's upcoming November auction.

The dispersal was to include Felicita, who is the dam of Grade 1 winner Take Charge Lady and who is in foal to A.P. Indy on a February cover. The horses were to be offered through the Paramount Sales agency.