SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Funny Cide, the first New York-bred to win the Kentucky Derby and in position to become the first gelding to win the Triple Crown in Saturday's Belmont Stakes, was born with the knack for catching people by surprise.
He arrived 10 days earlier than his anticipated foaling date, around 3:30 a.m. on April 20, 2000, at Joe and Anne McMahon's farm, McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds in Saratoga Springs.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Fasig-Tipton's July yearling sale, the only yearling sale in Kentucky that month because of the cancellation of the Keeneland summer auction, will have fewer horses cataloged this year as a result of mare reproductive loss syndrome.
The catalog for the company's showcase Saratoga select sale remained nearly level with last year's numbers, with about 220 horses in the catalog, compared with last year's 228.
It is not unusual for an old racehorse to be turned into a stable pony, but when that pony also doubles as a teaser, a stallion, and then sires a Grade 1 winner, well, you could just rip up the book on Thoroughbred breeding.
Too Late Now, owned and bred by Edna Arrow and trained by her son Jim Day, won the Grade 1 Selene Stakes at Woodbine May 19 and will be heavily favored to win the $500,000 Labatt Woodbine Oaks June 8.
Funny Cide isn't the only 3-year-old New York-bred in position to win a bonus next weekend at Belmont Park.
The day after Saturday's Belmont Stakes, where Funny Cide will try to earn a $5 million bonus by sweeping the Triple Crown, Grey Comet will try to win his owners a $100,000 bonus in the $250,000 Cab Calloway Stakes. Grey Comet is owned and was bred by the Star Track Farm of Peter Winston and his father, Marshall.
Private Chef's victory in the Grade 3 Will Rogers Stakes on May 25 at Hollywood Park - only his second lifetime start - was bittersweet for his breeders, Herb and Ellen Moelis. "It was a beautiful thing," said Herb Moelis, who sold Private Chef, a 3-year-old Partner's Hero gelding, as a yearling for $50,000. "But unfortunately, we sold his dam."
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Art and Stephanie Preston have signed an agreement to privately purchase Romanoaks Farm in Versailles, Ky., marking the Preston family's return to Kentucky's Thoroughbred business.
Romanoaks covers about 140 acres between Payne's Mill Road and Pisgah Pike, and the Prestons plan to purchase about 80 acres of the property from Denny and Lou Nunnelly. The Nunnellys, who are interested in both Quarter Horse and Thoroughbred racing, purchased the farm for $1.9 million at auction in March. They will keep the back 40 acres of the farm and intend to build a house there.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - The status of the Metropolitan Mile is very high as a critical test of racing ability, and also it is a benchmark as a proving ground for stallion prospects. The rationale for the Met Mile's prestige is the stud success of previous winners such as Fappiano, Native Dancer, Tom Fool, Buckpasser, In Reality, and Nodouble.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Will Farish and E.J. Hudson Jr. have sold their Grade 2 winner Parade Leader to a South African concern for $1 million, according to a report in Thoroughbred Times.
Parade Leader, a 6-year-old Kingmambo colt who won last year's New Orleans Handicap, will stand at Mike Rattray's Lammerskraal Stud in Ceres, South Africa, for slightly more than $2,000.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - One of the more significant stories apparent at this week's Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale of 2-year-olds in training at Timonium racetrack in Maryland was the continuing development of Art and Stephanie Preston's Oxbow Racing stable.
Art Preston, along with his brothers Jack and J.R., previously raced a large stable of Thoroughbreds and developed Prestonwood Farm in Lexington, where they stood the top sire Kris S., along with champion Groovy, Belmont Stakes winner Victory Gallop, and the fast Forty Niner horse Distorted Humor.