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  The first two major select auctions of the juvenile selling season sent mixed messages about the health of the marketplace.   Based on the results, the top end of the market is enjoying a little bit of a rebound. At the Ocala Breeders's Sales Co. February sale, three horses sold for $400,000 or more apiece, surpassing the 2009 top ...

In August of last year, Fasig-Tipton officials announced the sale company would form a racing club designed to be the initial recruiting effort in a plan to bring new participants into to the Thoroughbred industry. Recruiting new owners was mentioned as a priority when Dubai-based Synergy Investments purchased Fasig-Tipton in 2008.   The ...

It’s almost time for the select sales of 2-year-olds in training to begin, and I’m approaching this particular cycle in the selling season with a little bit more optimism than a year ago. The recession-battered auction business is still struggling, but it’s been beaten down so far that the stage is beginning to be set for a rebound. However, ...

A Medaglia d'Oro colt faced a long, hard journey on his way to becoming the top-priced yearling sold, at $280,000, during the Keeneland January horses of all ages sale. His van trip from California to Kentucky several weeks ago took seven days instead of the usual three or so, according to the bay colt's breeder, Tom Bachman.   ''There were ...

The winter mixed auctions that take place early in the year don't offer the best of the breeding stock, which usually is sold in the fall. But one fun thing about them is the opportunity to see some tiny little foals by their dams' sides. Whenever a mare and her offspring go through the sale ring, you can hear people going, ''AAAwwww, how cute!'' ...

Headley Bell of Mil Ridge Farm and Nicoma Bloodstock believes stud fees have fallen far enough for the Thoroughbred industry to start seeing some significant positive effects. The signs, he said, include the following: ''I, for the first time, was shut out on stallions that you wouldn't even have to ponder before. You werehaving to move sooner on ...

European sales this fall seemed well on the way to recovery while auctions in this country continued to suffer from the most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression. But Europe’s strength might be America’s gain in 2010, according to Lincoln Collins, president and owner of the Kern Thoroughbreds bloodstock agency and a director of ...

  Is there light at the end of the tunnel? A glimmer of hope? The Keeneland November breeding stock sale, which was devastated last year by the global financial crisis, indicated the market could be stabilizing when the median remained the same from 2008. In addition, the declines in the gross and average price were much less than they had ...

Thanksgiving isn't until next week, but it's not too early to start giving thanks. Everyone participating in the Keeneland November breeding stock sale should be grateful to Overbrook Farm and foreign buyers. Without them, the auction would have been a miserable experience in its early days even though the best available stock was being ...

Being a Kentucky-bred ain't what it used to be as far as sales of young horses are concerned, according to Tommy Eastham of Legacy Bloodstock. Read what he has to say: ''The one thing I do think has been very apparent this year is that  everybody in the horse business and in state of Kentucky realizes that right now it's a disadvantage to ...