Considering recent performances by New York-breds, it could be a very good six weeks for statebreds at the Saratoga meet, which begins on Wednesday. New York-breds Carson Hollow and Whitmore's Conn won major races at Belmont Park the first two weekends in July and are now being pointed to Grade 1 races in Saratoga.

Carson Hollow won the Grade 1 Prioress Stakes by two lengths in her first start against open stakes horses on July 6. Carson Hollow, a 3-year-old daughter of Carson City, is likely to run in Saturday's $250,000 Test Stakes.

Last year, Scott Lake, one of the nation's leading trainers, had a very nice horse with a very big problem. The horse was the 2-year-old Thunderello, and he had torn his suspensory ligament. Lake decided to sit Thunderello down for six months and bring him back slowly. The horse was too valuable to do anything else.

Then, the day before the horse was entered to run for the first time since winning his maiden at Saratoga Race Course by 14 1/2 lengths, he tore the ligament again.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The top sales sire Storm Cat, combined with outstanding female families and aided by strong marketing, produced the highest-priced yearling at this week's Keeneland July select yearling sale, as well as the auction's top-priced filly.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Among the Keeneland July sale participants this year was golfing legend Gary Player, who sold a Hennessy-Freesia filly to North Hills Management for $325,000 on Tuesday night. Player, the winner of nine major tournaments, keeps his North American broodmares at Darrell and Lendy Brown's Stonereath Farm near Lexington. He also has horses in South Africa.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - For about 10 minutes on Tuesday night, it looked like a glorious night at the Keeneland July selected yearling sale. There was a sleek Storm Cat colt turning around in the auction ring. Bids were flying between Coolmore agent Demi O'Byrne inside the pavilion and Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum's representative John Ferguson in his usual spot behind the auctioneer's stand.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - As of 5 p.m. Wednesday, a $535,000 colt by first-crop sire Mazel Trick was the session-leader at Fasig-Tipton Kentucky's July select yearling sale in Lexington.

The two-day sale, which was to sell nearly 300 horses in its Wednesday session, opened with 260 hips in a new sire showcase featuring first- and second-crop sires.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - After a difficult opening session Monday that saw precipitous declines across the board, the Keeneland July select yearling sale rebounded in its final session Tuesday night but still suffered massive declines overall.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Keeneland's July select yearling sale got off to a rocky start Monday night when the first of two sessions posted steep declines across the board and a 47 percent buyback rate.

The Los Angeles County Fair Association has purchased Barretts Equine Limited, the Southern California sales company, from Fred Sahadi, who founded the sale in 1990.

Barretts officials on Monday said that the transaction, completed last week, will not lead to changes in the sales company. Barretts is located on land adjacent to Fairplex Park, the site of a 17-day race meeting run each September by the Fair Association.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Keeneland's July select yearling sale, which was to be held Monday and Tuesday nights this week, traditionally gets the auction limelight with its million-dollar Thoroughbreds. But across town on Wednesday and Thursday, Fasig-Tipton Kentucky's selected yearling sale has quietly been on the rise for buyers and sellers of middle-class racehorses. The question this year is whether Fasig-Tipton's record catalog of nearly 600 horses can sustain the upward momentum in a month when corporate scandals and stock market slips may prompt mid-market buyers to spend less.