MIAMI - Fasig-Tipton's select 2-year-old sale at Calder ended almost level with last year's results, but produced a higher top price when a Tale of the Cat colt brought $1.4 million from bloodstock agent Demi O'Byrne.

Last year's sale-topper was a $1 million Seeking the Gold colt.

The Tale of the Cat colt and a $1 million Storm Cat filly were the auction's two million-dollar lots, and eight others brought $500,000 or more. Those figures helped the auction maintain figures similar to last year's.

MIAMI - A handful of ugly ducklings turned into golden swans at Fasig-Tipton's select 2-year-old sale Tuesday at Calder Race Course, rewarding their consignors with massive profits.

MIAMI - Skywalker, the 1986 Breeders' Cup Classic winner and sire of champion Bertrando, died of a heart attack Tuesday at Arthur Hancock III's Stone Farm in Paris, Ky. He was 21.

Skywalker had stood at Stone Farm since 1996. He was also foaled and raised at the farm and will be buried there.

Five juveniles stopped the clock in 10.10 seconds for the fastest eighth-mile times at Monday's under-tack preview for the Barretts select 2-year-old sale in Pomona, Calif.

The five were Hip No. 25, a Distorted Humor-Lady Ironwood filly; Hip No. 78, a Tactical Cat-Ransomed Captive filly; Hip No. 119, an Exploit-Two Punch Lil colt; Hip No. 179, an Anet-Dixieland Fantasy filly; and Hip No. 191, a Boston Harbor-Fancy Ribbons filly.

The quickest time over a quarter-mile was 22.30 seconds, posted by Hip No. 22, an Afternoon Deelites-Kauai Princess colt.

MIAMI - A Deputy Minister colt put up the day's fastest time Sunday at the Fasig-Tipton Calder juvenile sale's final under-tack show, stopping the timer in 10.00 seconds for a one-eighth-mile work over a sloppy track.

The colt, currently named Dean of Students, is out of the stakes winning Seeking the Gold mare Oxford Scholar. He sells as Hip No. 90 from Kip Elser's Kirkwood Stables agency.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Invisible Ink, runner-up in the 2001 Kentucky Derby, will enter stud this year at Rising Hill Farm in Ocala, Fla. Invisible Ink, who retired in October, will stand for a 2003 fee of $3,500.

Halory Hunter, the 1998 Blue Grass Stakes winner, is the latest stallion to arrive at Joe and Anne McMahon's McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds. He arrived in New York on Feb. 12.

Halory Hunter, an 8-year-old son of Jade Hunter, who sired 2002 Horse of the Year Azeri, stands for $2,500.

Rick Pitino, the basketball coach for the University of Louisville and a former coach for the Boston Celtics, is the majority owner of Halory Hunter, who earned $713,120 on the track for Pitino's Celtic Pride Stable.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The list of top California-bred 3-year-old males has changed remarkably in the last week because of death and injury.

Icecoldbeeratreds, the California-bred champion 2-year-old male of 2002, was euthanized on Wednesday after suffering a shoulder injury while training at Santa Anita. Trained by Bob Baffert, Icecoldbeeratreds won the Del Mar Futurity last September and finished second in the Champagne Stakes.

"I liked him the minute he got off the van," recalled Karl Koontz.

Koontz, longtime in-house bloodstock consultant to Mike O'Farrell's Ocala Stud, was talking about Montbrook. It was 1995 and Montbrook was going to stand at Ocala Stud, where he was foaled.

The breeding season is off to a promising start at Maryland's largest commercial stud farm, Northview Stallion Station in Chesapeake City.

"I've been amazed - bookings are way ahead of last year," said Northview's managing partner Richard Golden, who said he was "really pessimistic coming into 2003."

Prospects for slot machines at Maryland tracks and the recent change in track ownership at Laurel and Pimlico have led to renewed optimism. "The future looks brighter," Golden said, "and we hope it keeps getting brighter."