North Florida had more rain than usual this winter. With the rains come swollen swamps and mosquito-infested waters. Mosquitoes are the agents for West Nile virus, which has hit horses - including breeding stock - throughout North America.
Dr. Carol Clark, an Ocala veterinarian, counsels breeders to inoculate their stock for West Nile and then follow up with periodic booster shots from the fourth-through-ninth months after, and then to administer a booster every four months.
Don't be misled by the name. New York Hero, the colt who vaulted several spaces ahead on the Triple Crown trail with his victory in the Grade 2 Lane's End Stakes on March 22, is totally a product of Maryland breeding.
More specifically, he owes his origins to the well-represented breeding program at David and JoAnn Hayden's Dark Hollow Farm in Upperco, Md.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - David and Ginger Mullins, whose sales agency sold the $2.8 million top filly from a one-horse consignment at Keeneland's 2002 July sale, have put their Doninga Farm on the market.
The 113-acre property is located on Greenwich Pike near Lexington. Realtor Bill Justice has the listing.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - When Shadai Stallion Station in Japan bought 2002 Kentucky Derby winner War Emblem for more than $17 million last year, it looked like a good investment in a champion 3-year-old and classic winner. But making the deal may have been the easiest part for Shadai, which so far hasn't been able to convince War Emblem to actually mate with most of the mares presented to him.
Fasig-Tipton's Texas 2-year-old sale got off to an unsteady start Tuesday with numerous early buy-backs. But the one-day auction at Lone Star Park also saw some strength at the upper level: A $240,000 Indian Charlie colt was the sale-leader at 4 p.m. An $85,000 Smoke Glacken colt and a $72,000 Doneraile Court colt also brought some cheer to the sale's opening hours.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Empire Maker's victory in the Grade 1 Florida Derby could hardly have been more emphatic, and its implications for the classics are there for all competitors to see. Bred and raced by Khalid Abdullah's Juddmonte Farms, Empire Maker is the second Juddmonte-bred in the last four years to show first-row classic potential.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Equine Spectrum, an online auction house operated by the Keeneland Association in partnership with some of Kentucky's most influential consignors, has dismissed its staff and will come under more direct Keeneland management.
"Equine Spectrum is still a very viable entity," Keeneland spokeswoman Julie Balog said. "Keeneland has assumed more active management of the company. Keeneland has been the managing partner of Equine Spectrum, but now it will take a more day-to-day role."
ARCADIA, Calif. - There has been little change among the cast of top California-bred turf milers in recent years.
In Sunday's $100,000 Crystal Water Handicap at Santa Anita, the two horses who have won the last three runnings - Hugh Hefner and Road to Slew - are part of an eight-horse field that includes last year's runner-up, Spinelessjellyfish, and the third-place finisher of 2001, Lilys Lad.
The only major player missing is Native Desert, 10, who is nearing a comeback following an injury last summer.
The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's auction of selected 2-year-olds in training, held Tuesday and Wednesday, posted a gross of $18,196,000 for 273 horses sold - second highest in OBS history. The OBS lists 273 sold compared to 200 last March. The average price of $66,654 reflected a decline of roughly 10 percent from the 2002 sale and the median dipped from $53,500 to $50,000. The buy-back rate also declined from near 38 percent last year to just over 33 percent this year.