Fasig-Tipton Texas has catalogued 310 yearlings to its annual summer sale, which will be held at Lone Star Park near Dallas on Aug. 25. The one-day yearling sale will begin at 10 a.m. Central.
Among the stallions represented by offspring are Tale of the Cat, who accounted for the $85,000 sales-topper last year; Distorted Humor, sire of Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Funny Cide; Golden Missile; Real Quiet; Doneraile Court; Cat Thief; and Valid Expectations.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Hill 'n' Dale Farm in Lexington said this week that it wouldn't shuttle its stallion Mutakddim to Argentina this year because the farm doesn't want to risk injuring a horse whose value is increasing.
Mutakddim is best known in this country as the sire of Grade 1 winner Lady Tak, and his Argentine progeny include Grade 1 winners Luna Real and Symbolic. Mutakddim isn't the only stallion staying off the shuttle circuit this year. Coolmore's Thunder Gulch is skipping his Australian season for "a season's rest" after seven consecutive trips Down Under.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Last weekend at Saratoga, Sightseek won the Go for Wand Stakes by 11 1/2 lengths, and Lady Tak set a stakes record in the Grade 1 Test Stakes. Not so coincidentally, both descend from the same male line, that of the great sire Mr. Prospector.
Already this year, Empire Maker won the Belmont, Funny Cide, took the Derby and Preakness, Peace Rules won the Grade 1 Blue Grass and ran third in the Derby, and Strong Hope won the Dwyer. The reigning Horse of the Year, Azeri, is unbeaten this season. All descend from Mr. Prospector.
In response to widespread reporting that the 1986 Kentucky Derby winner, Ferdinand, may have been killed last year in a Japanese slaughterhouse, the Japan Racing Association faxed a letter to the Associated Press saying that slaughter of imported high-caliber racehorses is highly unusual.
According to AP reports, the JRA and Japan Bloodhorse Breeders Association said they had determined the status of 23 of 24 high-level horses imported to Japan since 1980. They have died of natural causes, been exported to other countries, or remain in good care.
Seabiscuit mania has taken a firm hold of racetracks across the continent, and July 27 is Seabiscuit Sunday at Woodbine in celebration of the movie's opening.
While the racing career of Seabiscuit is the theme of the best-selling book and movie, not a lot has been written recently about the horse at stud. In fact, Seabiscuit, a son of Hard Tack out of Swing On, a foal of 1933, sired just 108 foals from nine crops. Of his 86 foals to race, 66 were winners and four were black-type winners.
DEL MAR, Calif. - The experience of racing against such top fillies as Composure and Elloluv last winter should help Summer Wind Dancer in Sunday's $100,000 Fleet Treat Stakes at Del Mar.
Unraced since January, Summer Wind Dancer faces a tough field in the Fleet Treat Stakes, run over seven furlongs for 3-year-old fillies.
In recent years, the Fleet Treat has included a standout, making for an unattractive betting race. In this year's field, the situation is the opposite.
The offices of the New York Thoroughbred Breeders will be humming during Saratoga's racing season.
Dennis Brida, the NYTB's executive director, has planned three free public events in hopes of attracting new owners to racing.
First up on Aug. 2 is a seminar on how to purchase Thoroughbreds at auction. The seminar, which begins at 8:30 a.m. at the Fasig-Tipton Sales Pavilion on East Avenue, features speakers from the auction company, including president Walt Robertson and auctioneer Terence Collier, who also serves as the director of marketing at Fasig-Tipton.
After 60 years of marriage and more than 40 years of breeding Thoroughbreds, Hugh and Achsah O'Donovan continue to find happiness by the light of a perfect moon.
Perfect Moon is a 2-year-old Maryland-bred gelding who rallied from a stalking position to win the Grade 3 Hollywood Juvenile Championship by daylight on the closing weekend of the Hollywood Park summer meeting. By Malibu Moon out of the Parfaitement mare Perfectly, Perfect Moon represents three generations of horses bred and raised by the O'Donovans and is their first graded stakes winner.
Lambholm South in Reddick welcomed its new stallion this week. Lido Palace, the multimillionaire who raced for Amerman Racing Stable and trainer Bobby Frankel, will enter stud in 2004 for a fee of $8,500 live foal.
A champion racehorse in his native Chile, Lido Palace raced 11 times in North America - 10 times in graded stakes - and never finished worse than fourth. Highlights of his career include winning the Grade 1 Whitney and Grade 1 Woodward in 2001, and repeating in the Woodward in 2002.