Ocala Week, the Florida Thoroughbred industry's annual homecoming, will have some major changes to its traditional scheduling.
Activities begin on Wednesday, Oct. 8, a day earlier than usual, and conclude Oct. 16 with final session of the Ocala Breeders' fall mixed sale. Among the changes is the date of the Jockey Club's interactive seminar, to be held this year on Oct. 8 at Steinbrenner's Ramada Inn.
Pat Calandro hadn't seen Buy the Sport since she sold the New York-bred filly as a yearling two years ago at Saratoga.
When Calandro found out that Buy the Sport, who had been running in Europe, was entered in last Saturday's $250,000 Gazelle Handicap at Belmont Park, she immediately made plans to go to the track to see her run.
It was worth the 140-mile round-trip drive from her farm in Holmes, N.Y., because Buy the Sport provided Calandro with her first Grade 1 win as a breeder.
Nureyev had a champion's pedigree, racetrack talent and, most important of all, heart and courage. A white-faced son of Northern Dancer, he battled with infertility and a life-threatening fracture of his right hind leg, suffered in 1997, during his 20 years at stud. But those difficulties did not stop him from becoming one of the world's most notable stallions.
DEL MAR, Calif. - The upset win by Dave the Dude in the $100,000 I'm Smokin Stakes at Del Mar last Monday pushed the young California stallion Swiss Yodeler past the $1 million mark in 2003 progeny earnings.
For Swiss Yodeler, a Grade 1 winner and multiple stakes winner in 1996, the seven-figure mark is the latest milestone in a developing stud career.
Last year, Swiss Yodeler led California's freshman stallions with earnings of $748,718, placing him seventh on the national list.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - The sales leaders at the first two days of the Keeneland September yearling sale showed how strongly the market values superior examples of select yearlings. The first day's top lot, a bay colt by Danzig out of champion Queena, by Mr. Prospector, brought $3.6 million, and the overall sale leader, who sold for $3.8 million late Tuesday, is a bay filly by Gone West out of Touch of Greatness, by Hero's Honor.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - The Keeneland September yearling sale is known for its numbers. The world's largest Thoroughbred yearling sale, it offers more than 4,000 horses in 12 days this year, a giant marketplace that leaves the sale grounds flush with horses. One might think that would work against small consignments, but Keeneland's select-session results on Monday and Tuesday prove otherwise.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - outpaced all expectations at its Monday and Tuesday select sessions, and the flood of money they produced appeared to be trickling down to at least the first open session on Wednesday.
The 12-day auction's first two sessions drew buyers from around the world, and they bid with such abandon that even Keeneland officials were surprised. The two select sessions produced a staggering 27 seven-figure yearlings, including a $3.8 million Gone West filly and a $3.6 million Danzig colt.
LAS VEGAS - There are many 2-year-old stakes races with the name Futurity, but the oldest and most prestigious is The Futurity Stakes, to be run at Belmont Sunday and originally run at the old Sheepshead Bay Racetrack. The race has been run at varying distances since its inaugural running in 1888, and has been contested at one mile since 1994.
