Menifee, a Grade 1 winner and runner-up in the 1999 Kentucky Derby and Preakness, has been sold to the Korean Racing Association and will take up stud duties in South Korea in 2007.
Arthur Hancock, who bred Menifee and stood him in partnership at his Stone Farm near Paris, Ky., confirmed the private sale Thursday.
Fasig-Tipton Midlantic fall yearling sale ended Wednesday with mixed results, setting a sale record for gross but posting a loss in average.
The auction closed with total receipts of $14,580,700 for 658 yearlings sold, just edging last year's total of $14,499,600 for 615 yearlings. The larger catalog may have contributed to a decrease in the average price, which fell 6 percent to $22,159. The median, though, jumped 10 percent to $11,500. Buy-backs also rose, from 22 percent last year to 32 percent this year.
Fasig-Tipton Midlantic's fall yearling sale at Timonium, Md., showed some strength at the top of the market on Wednesday as the auction tried to rebound from losses at Tuesday's session.
At 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, the three-day sale's final session had sold four yearlings for $100,000 or more. The most expensive of those was a $195,000 Johannesburg filly that agent Cynthia Tucker bought from the Gainesway agency. The filly is out of the unraced Pleasant Colony mare Pleasant Sunshine and is a half-sister to the winners Single Rainbow, Desert Pearls, and Dattts Joesrainbow.
A filly by Cape Town sold for $240,000 at Tuesday's California October yearling sale at Barretts, the top seller in a one-day sale that was weaker in several categories than the 2005 sale.
The sale, primarily of California-breds, saw 171 horses sell for $4,336,900. The gross declined 17 percent from last year's inaugural sale. While the average price of $25,362 was $50 higher than last year, the number sold fell 17 percent from 207, and the median fell from $17,000 to $16,000.
A filly by More Than Ready sold for $130,000 at Tuesday's California October yearling sale at Barretts, the highest price by 2 p.m. Pacific of the one-day sale at Pomona, Calif.
Linda Templeton of Lake Havasu City, Ariz., purchased the filly from the consignment of Terry Lovingier's Lov Acres Ranch, agent. Templeton and Lovingier were sat alongside each other in the auditorium when the filly was sold.
The California-bred filly is out of the Carson City mare Heavenly Valley, a three-time stakes winner at Woodbine.
Chris Dragone, the former general manager of the Maryland Jockey Club, has accepted a position as the executive director of the New York Thoroughbred Breeders Inc., the breeders group announced on Tuesday.
Dragone, the son of the late New York Racing Association chairman Allan Dragone, started in his new position on Monday, and has moved to Saratoga Springs, N.Y., where the breeders group is based. He replaces Dennis Brida, who accepted a position this summer with Empire Racing Associates, a group bidding for the franchise held by the New York Racing Association.
Lisa Underwood, the general counsel of the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority, has been promoted to the position of the authority's executive director by Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher, Fletcher's office announced Monday.
Underwood, a former partner in the law firm of Wyatt, Tarrant, and Comb, has acted as the general counsel for the authority since 2005. Since then, she has played a significant role in the authority's attempt to rewrite the state's medication rules and penalties.
A $200,000 filly helped start the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic fall yearling sale in fine style Monday, suggesting that the yearling market remained strong even as it nears the season's end.
The team of Tony Bowling and Bobby Dodd, acting as agents, signed for the session-leading filly, a Forestry half-sister to stakes winner Inner Harbour. Bill Reightler, agent, sold the filly on behalf of Huntingfields. The filly, Hip No.o96, was one of seven horses to bring $100,000 or more by 5 p.m.
The three-day auction in Timonium, Md., was to run through Wednesday.