The Keeneland January all-ages sale's next-to-last session on Saturday eked out a small gain in average price but saw declines in gross and median. But cumulative numbers showed gains overall from last year.
Agent Mike Ryan purchased the session-topper, a $220,000 yearling colt by Saint Liam out of the stakes-producing Kingmambo mare Golf Girl. The colt is a half-brother to stakes winner Stoneway. James Keogh's Grovendale agency consigned the bay colt.
Ken and Sarah Ramsey have privately sold their homebred Precious Kitten, a finalist for the female turf Eclipse Award, to Roy and Gretchen Jackson, according to an announcement the Ramseys made Friday.
The two-time Grade 1 winner will stay in training with Bobby Frankel in 2008.
"We hope she brings as much pleasure to the Jacksons as she did to us," Ken Ramsey said. "Selling her was a tough decision, and we'll miss running her in the big races this year."
Negotiations on a long-term extension for the franchise held by the New York Racing Association are continuing, but two issues - the legalization of slot machines at Belmont Park and the composition of the NYRA board - have emerged as sticking points, according to participants in the negotiations.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Robert Courtney, who sold his last horse at Keeneland on Wednesday after 67 years in the business, still recalls with great clarity the first mare he ever bought, back in 1941. Her name was Sweet Face, and he got her for $50.
It might have seemed a nondescript beginning, but when he sold Sweet Face and her foal for 32 times that shortly thereafter, it marked the start of a great career that Courtney says has been filled with hard work, fun, and good luck.
Horses racing in Illinois will begin to be tested for anabolic steroids and blood-enhancing agents this year. The Illinois Racing Board voted to adopt rules governing such tests in a meeting on Tuesday in Chicago, though steroid testing probably will not begin until late summer or autumn.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Irish Cherry, already the dam of Grade 1 winners Spun Sugar and Daaher, put some sizzle in Monday's opening session at the Keeneland January auction when she sold for $2.7 million to Michael Moreno and Eric Guillot's Southern Equine Stables.
All-sources handle and ontrack attendance dropped during Laurel Park's fall meet, part of an overall decline in figures throughout 2007 for the Maryland Jockey Club.
According to figures released Thursday, total handle at the 17-week Laurel fall meet that ended Dec. 29 dropped 8.5 percent, from $297.8 million in 2006 to $272.6 million this year, when there were six fewer days of live racing.
Average handle declined 3.3 percent to $3.3 million, and live attendance was off 5.6 percent to 138,195.
The New York Racing Association still did not receive the necessary approvals from the New York State Racing and Wagering Board to allow the majority of advance-deposit wagering outlets to take bets on Aqueduct's races Thursday. Those same outlets were shut out on Tuesday as well.
The board did approve NYRA's contract with Youbet.com, though that company was not permitted to show streaming video of the races as it had hoped. However, the contracts with TVG, HRTV, and TrackNet Media Group had not been approved as of Thursday, and it was unclear when they would go through.