A colt by Australia's current leading freshman Beneteau sold Feb. 17 for $340,000 (US$266,048), the highest price in eight years at the Magic Millions Perth yearling sale, but key market indicators were down.
Michael de Kock's domination of the UAE Derby (UAE-II) continued March 29 when his favored duo drew away from the field in the final 200 meters, but it was Honour Devil who demonstrated his superiority with a 4 3/4-length victory over stablemate Royal Vintage at Nad Al Sheba.
MAHUBAH'S CORNER, by Avalyn Hunter
<P> Honour and Glory had modest success in the Northern Hemisphere with 4% stakes winners from 773 foals and even less success in Australia. But the son of Relaunch is enjoying a stud career revival in South America, where his first Argentinian crop has already yielded seven stakes winners (7.4%) and the racing year isn't over.
Honour Devil provided trainer Mike de Kock with a perfect birthday gift as he gamely held off stablemate Royal Vintage by a half-length to capture the UAE 2000 Guineas (UAE-III) Feb. 14.
PORTER ON PEDIGREES, by Alan Porter
<P>Were it not for Florida, there would now be no active male line tracing back to that most revered of American racehorses, Man o' War. The line had already begun to fade from prominence when Tartan Farms' colt In Reality came along in the stellar foal crop of 1964. Today, Bridlewood Farm's young stallion Put It Back, a son of Honour and Glory and a great-grandson of In Reality, is the latest young sire with the potential to keep this line alive. One of Put It Back's runners who is helping make this happen is grade I winner In Summation.
Returning from a seven-month layoff, Keyed Entry went gate to wire to defeat four overmatched opponents in Saturday's $100,000 Deputy Minister Handicap (gr. III), the first of six graded stakes on the Gulfstream Park program.
Harlequin Ranches' Coy Coyote rallied from mid-pack to win Saturday's $250,000 Mazarine Breeders' Cup Stakes (Can-III) for 2-year-old fillies at Woodbine.
La Mission Stallion Station in Argentina has purchased Honour and Glory from Ashford Stud and will lease the 13-year-old stallion to stand at Wintergreen Stallion Station in Midway, Ky., for Northern Hemisphere breeding seasons.
Keyed Entry, who finished third in the Wood Memorial (gr. I), will ship to Churchill Downs Monday, and if he trains to the satisfaction of trainer Todd Pletcher, will be pointed for the Kentucky Derby presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I).
Todd Pletcher, whose bench is stronger than most other trainers' first string, sends out the first team on Saturday, when he'll saddle Bluegrass Cat in the Tampa Bay Derby (gr. III) and Keyed Entry in the Gotham Stakes (gr. III).
Making his stakes debut, Keyed Entry repelled the 3-5 favorite First Samurai in the stretch to post a determined win in the Hutcheson Stakes (gr. II) for 3-year-olds on a sloppy Gulfstream Park main track Saturday.
Battle-tested Battle Won got a tour of the Belmont Park layout Thursday morning, but when he faces Lost in the Fog and the other 10 entrants in the TVG Breeders' Cup Sprint (gr. I), it won't be his first start over the track. The 5-year-old gelding, owned by Jay and Gretchen Manoogian and trained by Chuck Simon, raced at "Big Sandy" back during his 3-year-old campaign under different circumstances.
Blues and Royals, winner of the Saeed and Mohammed al Naboodah UAE Derby (UAE-II) in March, was euthanized according to Godolphin racing's Web site. The 3-year-old colt won two of four starts and earned $1,216,980.
Battle Won, in his second start since running in Hong Kong, drew off to win the $231,000 Churchill Downs Handicap (gr. II) by 3 1/2 lengths Saturday at Churchill Downs, the first stakes race on the card that will feature the Kentucky Derby (gr. I).
Godolphin's second string Blues and Royals turned the UAE Derby (UAE-II) into a procession under Kerrin McEvoy in a race run at a furious gallop Saturday at Nad Al Sheba.
Thunder Gulch and Honour and Glory, both of whom stand at Ashford Stud near Versailles, Ky., and Virginia stallion Housebuster will shuttle to Argentina
Big House Red, a colt by Stormy Atlantic consigned by Tony Bowling and Bobby Dodd, zipped a quarter-mile in :21 flat as the fastest work at the distance at Sundays second and final session of the "Under Tack Show" for the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's 2004 June Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training and Horses of Racing Age.
Making his stakes debut, Lorraine and Rod Rodriguez's undefeated Hosco pulled his way to the front soon after the start and stayed there, winning the $108,100 San Miguel Stakes (gr. III) for 3-year-olds going six furlongs at Santa Anita Sunday.
New York invaders One and Twenty and Fortuitous rallied to score impressive wins in the two divisions of the featured Natalma Stakes (gr. III) for 2-year-old fillies, over one mile on the E.P. Taylor Turf Course, Saturday at Woodbine.
Hobeau Farm's grade II winner Put It Back, undefeated in five starts at 3 this year, has been retired due to an injury and will enter stud at Arthur I. Appleton's Bridlewood Farm in Ocala, Fla.
The connection between the Breeders' Cup races and stud fees for the upcoming breeding season became readily apparent when Irish-based Coolmore Stud announced that it was raising its fees for two of its established stallions -- Honour and Glory and Thunder Gulch -- and for an incoming stallion -- Giant's Causeway -- from previously published prices.