It was less than two years ago that George Tharrenos and his wife, Helen, decided to buy some farmland and take their chances at breeding their own Thoroughbreds.
George Tharrenos, who is in the business of electric heating products, has owned claiming horses since he was 16 and comes from a family of horse owners.
But never did Tharrenos believe that one of the first mares he would purchase would be the dam of the favorite for the June 23 Queen's Plate.
The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's final 2-year-old auction on the 2002 calendar gets under way Tuesday when the first of a cataloged 440 2 year-olds in training go on the block. The remaining 2-year-olds and 14 older horses in training sell on Wednesday. Start-ing time for both sessions is 11 a.m.
Florida's top three leading sires - Notebook, Montbrook, and Fortunate Prospect - are well represented in the sale.
One of the most excited people without money riding on 70-1 Sarava as he drove to the finish in the 134th Belmont Stakes was watching from Maryland.
Mason Grasty, executive vice-president of Fasig-Tipton Midlantic, knew he was witnessing the first Triple Crown race winner ever to have walked through the sales ring in Timonium. Sarava, a son of Wild Again, sold as a yearling at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's Eastern fall sale in 2000 for $190,000.
The $100,000 Downs at Albuquerque Handicap in New Mexico on Sunday has a distinct California flavor.
Three California-breds who are based in New Mexico - Alyou, Brew, and Reflecting Colors - face six others, including Hero's Welcome and Nates Colony, who are based in California and are attempting to plunder the richest race of the Albuquerque season.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - When leading female earner Spain heads for the starting gate Saturday in Churchill's Grade 2 Fleur de Lis, she will be carrying a little extra weight. The 5-year-old mare is one month pregnant to Storm Cat but is continuing her racing career, apparently with little need for change in her care.
"The examining vet just said to carry on," Spain's trainer, D. Wayne Lukas, said Thursday morning. "We're doing everything the same."
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Sarava's victory in the Belmont Stakes brought yet another level of recognition to the colt's sire, the Three Chimneys stallion Wild Again. At the age of 22, Wild Again has added a Belmont winner to his list of accomplishments, which include siring top juvenile winners, sprinters, milers, and now a classic winner.
The year's fifth and final Florida sale of 2-year-olds in training takes place in Ocala on June 19 and 20. The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company will conduct its under-tack shows next Saturday and Sunday with an 8 a.m. starting time. The OBS has cataloged 226 for Tuesday's opening session and 214 for Wednesday. An additional 14 older horses in training will be offered at the end of the 2-year-old sale. Starting time for both sessions is 11a.m.
It's a special kind of challenge attempting to breed top-dollar runners on a bottom-dollar budget, but Chesapeake City, Md., horseman David Wade offers living proof that it can be done.
At the 1992 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky January sale, Wade paid $5,500 for a then-13-year-old mare, Sunny Sparkler (by Sunny Clime), who subsequently has produced three foals to race, all of them stakes performers.
