LEXINGTON, Ky. - Since Sunday Silence had his first runners, racing in Japan has never been the same. These included his first champions, and every season since, he has towered over his competition like some fierce icon carved of ebony.
A nearly black son of Halo, Sunday Silence isn't just the top stallion in Japan and one of the most successful stallions in the world, the high-spirited horse is a symbol of the best in Japanese sport and international breeding and racing.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Leading Japanese sire Sunday Silence remains in poor condition but is still standing and eating, according to a representative of the Shadai Stallion Station in Hokkaido, where the 16-year-old stallion stands.
Sunday Silence, Kentucky Derby winner and North American Horse of the Year in 1989, has undergone three operations since May to treat a bacterial infection in his right front leg. After the third surgery on July 18, he developed the painful hoof disease laminitis in his left front leg.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Barbara Vanlangendonck, who along with her husband, Francis, brought a large consignment to Fasig-Tipton's New York-bred sale last week, received a wonderful phone call just hours before the start of the sale Sunday.
The caller informed Vanlangendonck that a half-sister to a Forest Wildcat colt who was part of the Vanlangendonck's consignment that evening had just won a maiden turf race at Saratoga.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - It's been a year since Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum's Darley operation announced it had bought the Bell family's Jonabell Farm near Lexington. The Darley team has been busy with the farm since then, but more with renovation projects than handling horses.
This year's class of Maryland freshman sires is gaining momentum now that racing in the state has resumed after a short break. Since the opening of Laurel Park's summer meet on July 25, four of Maryland's five first-year sires who have had a winner have had one at Laurel.
The most recent came on Wednesay, when Butiwillflysomeday, a daughter of Murmur Farm stallion Yarrow Brae, barreled her way to a 4 1/4-length victory in a 5 1/2-furlong maiden special weight.
Guarded optimism is the outlook for the four-day Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's yearling auction. The selected session starts the sale Monday, Aug. 18, at 11 a.m. with 216 cataloged. It is immediately followed by 88 yearlings selling as phase one of the Franks Farm planned reduction of Thoroughbred inventory. The open portion of this sale, Tuesday through Thursday, has 1,106 yearlings cataloged and has an 11 a.m. starting time.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Boosted by the continuing benefits of a lucrative bonus and incentive program for statebreds, the California-bred yearling market held steady last week at the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association Del Mar yearling sale.
The two-day sale had record prices for average - $43,770 - and median price - $32,000. The gross of $4,289,500 for 98 yearlings was a drop of 6 percent from 2001.
There will be a new look to the Woodbine yearling sale beginning on Sept. 3, when the Kentucky-based Fasig-Tipton sales company comes to town to operate the auction for the first time since 1990.
Fasig-Tipton has a two-year agreement with Woodbine Entertainment and the Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society to run the select and open yearling sales, which will take place this year in a span of four days instead of the usual three weeks.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - A chestnut filly by freshman sire Tale of the Cat sold for $300,000 in the final session Monday to top Fasig-Tipton's New York-bred yearling sale.
The auction was expanded to two days this year and the new format was deemed a success by Fasig-Tipton, which last week saw sharp declines at its boutique select sale.
DEL MAR, Calif. - Bucking a national trend, the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association Del Mar yearling sale ended on Monday with an average price higher than at the 2001 sale.
At the two-night sale, which predominately sells California-breds, the average price reached a record $43,770, an increase of $107 from last year. The median price increased from $31,500 in 2001 to $32,000, also a record.