Tattersalls' returned a second-best annual turnover of 134,682,000 guineas as the December Sales reached its conclusion in Newmarket on Thursday night. A total of 3,842 head were sold during 2002 at an average price of 35,055 guineas.
Jockey Martin Pedroza was handed two five-day suspensions for his part in a pair of disqualifications at Hollywood Park on Dec. 1.
Australian trainer Steve Wolfe was suspended for two years for improperly administering a drug to the horse that collapsed and killed the brother of champion jockey Damien Oliver.
Team Kentucky, with a leading 11 entries in Saturday's $1.65 million NTRA Great State Challenge at Sam Houston Park, is the likely winner of the inaugural six-race series.
Men's Exclusive, the 9-year-old gelding who won the last two runnings of Hollywood Park's $100,000 Vernon O. Underwood (gr. III), will seek an unprecedented third victory in Saturday's 22nd running of the six-furlong stakes event.
Roll Hennessy Roll, impressive winner of the Hollywood Prevue Stakes (gr. III) Nov. 23, will try the Hollywood Futurity (gr. I) at 1 1/16 miles Dec. 21, trainer Rafael Becerra confirmed Thursday.
The University of Arizona's Race Track Industry Program staff has had to cancel the "Tote Forum – Issues and Answers" segment scheduled at its annual Symposium on Racing when representatives of the major totalizator companies said they would not participate.
Australia and New Zealand Horse of the Year Sunline is among the horses catalogued for the 2003 Keeneland January horses of all ages sale.
A paddock valet at Philadelphia Park is being hailed as a hero after he helped save the life of a woman whose car crashed and burned in Bensalem, Pa. Wednesday, pulling her to safety as the vehicle filled with smoke.
A record 117 2-year-olds are Early Bird nominees to the Florida Derby (gr. I) to be run at Gulfstream Park on Saturday, March 15, 2003. With a purse of $1 million, the Florida Derby is the richest race in North America for three-year-olds prior to the Kentucky Derby (G1) and has proven to be a significant preview of the Triple Crown.
Grade II winner Worldly Manner, who was bought in training as a 2-year-old by Godolphin for a reported $5 million in 1998, will stand the 2003 season at Alex Trebek's Creston Farms near Creston, Calif.
The Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association and the Thoroughbred Charities of America will conduct their annual stallion season auction Saturday.
With the National Weather Service forecasting a winter storm that could dump up to 8 inches of snow on the East Coast, many of the region's racetracks cancelled live and simulcast racing Thursday.
Two separate horsemen's groups representing Playfair Race Course appeared at a Washington Horse Racing Commission meeting on Wednesday, preventing the commission from granting any of the 40 requested racing dates to the track.
Secretariat, Suffolk Downs featured on 'Woodie's World'...New Jersey breeders elect officers...National Museum of Racing hosts Horses for the Holidays...Calder's Fan Appreciation Day is Dec. 14.
