LEXINGTON, Ky. - With the victory of Yell in the Grade 2 Davona Dale Stakes at Gulfstream on Feb. 23, and with the success of Buddy Gil in Santa Anita's Grade 3 Baldwin Stakes the same day, the continuing influence of Paul Mellon's bloodstock was visible for all to see. In addition to this pair of winners, Hero's Tribute, a son of Mellon's Kentucky Derby winner Sea Hero, ran a good second in the Grade 1 Donn Handicap a day earlier.

Next on the Florida roster of 2-year-olds in training sales is the annual OBS Sales and Racing Festival. Nominations close Monday for the 1 1/16-mile, $35,000 Florida Breeders' Distaff Stakes for fillies and mares and the restricted $35,000 Florida Thoroughbred Charities Stakes for 3-year-olds and up at five furlongs.

These two races, plus the four OBS sales alumni races, make up a $370,000 black type program that will be run March 17 at the OBS sales and training center. Entries for the racing festival program will be drawn on March 10.

Lolli Lucka Lolli, the broodmare of the year in New York on three occasions, is among the nominees for the award again, for 2002.

Lolli Lucka Lolli, the winner in 1997, 1998, and 2001, is joined on the nomination list by Critical Crew, Emma Loves Marie, Jack Betta Be Rite, Lizeality, Merion Miss, and Phalanopsis.

Lolli Lucka Lolli, who died in 2001 at age 17 from colic, is the dam of Say Florida Sandy, a 9-year-old who surpassed $2 million in earnings in January and is the all-time leading New York-bred in money won.

New Jersey's breeding and racing industry has hit a low point over the past several years, but there is no shortage of quality among the 2002 statebred champions.

ALBANY, Calif. - The Barking Shark's bite might not be what it once was, but at age 10 he is still fighting the good fight.

Six years ago, The Barking Shark was a Big Cap horse. Today, he is a $5,000 claimer - and the lone member of the 1997 Santa Anita Handicap field still running.

The Barking Shark, who has a win and a second in two starts this year, was claimed - for the second time in three months - out of his last race.

Dan Schiffer did not expect to take over his family's farm, The Hat Ranch West, as soon as he had to, but when his father, Ken, took ill more than a decade ago, he rose to the challenge.

His ascension to the presidency of the California Thoroughbred Breeders' Association also occurred more quickly than Schiffer expected, considering he first joined the board of directors only two years ago. But, in a way, Schiffer has spent his life being groomed for the position.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The Barretts catalog features a wide array of 2-year-olds, both California-bred and out-of-staters.

While Cal-breds form a solid core of quality for the Barretts March select juvenile sale, the auction long has benefited from quality stock shipped in from beyond the California state line. Among the horses from outside the Golden State, there are a number that have noteworthy pedigrees. From about 180 cataloged entries for the March 4 sale, here are a few of the more interestingly bred offerings, which are too numerous to be listed in full here.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - There is optimism in the California marketplace this year as sellers of 2-year-olds prepare for the March 4 Barretts select juvenile sale in Pomona, Calif.

The state's most important 2-year-old sale, previously thought to be in danger of cancellation, rebounded dramatically last year. Gross receipts rose 9 percent to nearly $11 million, the average price climbed 6 percent, and the median shot up by 14 percent. The sale topper, Atlantic Ocean, put the icing on the cake by setting a record juvenile filly sale price of $1.9 million.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Few people have taken a more contrarian approach to breaking into horse racing than Rich and Gaby Sulpizio.

Since they acquired a 238-acre farm in Santa Ynez in late 2001, the Sulpizios have not done the following things - gone crazy claiming horses at the track, rocked the yearling sales with a series of big-ticket purchases, or sent agents to foreign countries with an open checkbook.

ARCADIA, Calif. - There was once a time when California-bred 2-year-olds were largely priced out of the Barretts March sale of 2-year-olds in training, relegated to the more downmarket May sale.

Times have changed.