Aloma's Ruler, winner of the 1982 Preakness Stakes, has died at the Illinois farm where he was pensioned, according to a report in the Baltimore Sun. He was 24 and was found dead in his field on June 21, apparently of a heart attack, the newspaper reported.

Aloma's Ruler was the oldest living winner of the Preakness, following the death last month of the 1979 winner, Spectacular Bid. With Aloma's Ruler gone, the distinction now falls to the 1983 Preakness winner, Deputed Testamony, who stands at Bonita Stud in Maryland.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Fasig-Tipton Kentucky's summer yearling sale, the only summer yearling sale in the state after cancellation of this year's Keeneland July sale, begins Wednesday at Newtown Paddocks in Lexington.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Wayward Lass, North America's champion

3-year-old filly of 1981, died in late June at Contemporary Stallions in Coxsackie, N.Y., farm owner Gus Schoenborn Jr. confirmed.

The mare was 25 and was carrying a City Zip foal. Farm staff found her dead in her stall in June, and Schoenborn said the cause of death appeared to be a heart attack.

"She died in her sleep," Schoenborn said. "There was no struggle. Before her death, she had looked the best she ever did."

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Fasig-Tipton Kentucky's July yearling sale has gone from strength to strength in the last decade, even producing gains in recent years when tonier marketplaces like Keeneland's July sale have suffered declines. This year, with the Keeneland July sale canceled, Fasig-Tipton has Kentucky's summer yearling market all to itself, and the July 16-17 auction looks like it has some ammunition on hand to post more gains.

There is a new sensation in the Ontario stallion ranks these days and his name is Compadre. In a span of one week at the end of June, the 13-year-old sire had two debut-winning 2-year-olds at Woodbine, bringing his total to four in less than a year from just 33 runners.

In addition to those winners, Compadre is the sire of the graded-stakes-placed gelding No Comprende, stakes-placed El Gran Maestro, and allowance runner Kabul.

Floridians for a Level Playing Field is a consortium of Dade and Broward County parimutuel entities. The goal of the group is to place an amendment to Florida's constitution on the November 2004 statewide election ballot. The amendment would allow voters in Dade and Broward counties to determine by referendum if they want slot machines in their existing parimutuel facilities.

Pat Konka and Maureen Johnson may not truly be blessed with a sixth sense about horses, but it often seems that way.

The couple - they are married but use separate names - overcame all odds at the recent Maryland Horse Breeders Association yearling show, winning two of the six classes and the reserve championship with youngsters out of mares they bought at auction in early 2002.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The biography of Laffit Pincay Jr. that appears in the Hollywood Park media guide covers six pages. Three of them are dedicated to reviewing his major stakes wins over the last 35 years.

Listed among those pages are numerous California-breds who played a pivotal role in the Hall of Fame career of the jockey whose retirement will be honored at Hollywood Park on Sunday.

From the early 1970's to as recently as last summer, statebreds helped Pincay reach major milestones.

The Tattersalls July mixed sale ended in England on Wednesday with a record average price and the auction's second-highest gross.

Headed by Group 3-winning colt Clifden, who brought $292,740 as the auction's highest-priced 2-year-old ever, the auction established a record average price of $19,433. Overall, the three-day sale sold 287 of 336 lots offered for a total of $5,577,214.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - With two graded victories and several stakes placings, Grand Slam's progeny put the ball out of the park for their sire last weekend. While Cherish Destiny ran second in the Grade 3 Landaluce at Hollywood and Sweet Jo Jo was third in the Grade 3 Debutante at Churchill Downs, Strong Hope and Limehouse were victorious in their races, the Grade 2 Dwyer at Belmont and the Grade 2 Bashford Manor at Churchill.