The final session of the Winter Mixed Sale at Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company concluded Jan. 24 with Discovery Bay Bloodstock spending $100,000 on an Omaha Beach filly from the Fly By draft.

Trainer Wesley Ward’s million-dollar claim against owner/breeder Ken Ramsey is nearing its trial date. Ramsey recently survived an attempted knockout punch in court but still faces obstacles in his defense of Ward’s claims.

Sequel New York bred the sire’s first reported foal out of the Carpe Diem mare Wintrily. The foal was born at Sequel Jan. 20.

Oaklawn has announced that beginning Jan. 25, a horse needing a repeated intra-articular corticosteroid injection to the fetlock joint requires the attending veterinarian to perform a radiograph of that fetlock joint.

Blue Rose Cen, a dual classic-winning flagbearer last year for owners Yeguada Centurion and trainer Christopher Head, has moved across Chantilly to the yard of Maurizio Guarnieri. 

Later in the undercard, Cyclone Mischief, who finished last in the 2023 Kentucky Derby (G1), is making his second start following the Run for the Roses in the Fred W. Hooper Stakes (G3).

Highlighted by the 156th edition of the June 8 Belmont Stakes (G1), the 2024 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga Race Course will include 23 stakes races with purses totaling $10.1 million.

The annual auction raises funds that allow the NYTB to carry on its two-fold mission of promoting New York breeding and racing and protecting the welfare of industry stakeholders.

Second Stride comes into 2024 after a record year that saw a 36% increase in adoptions. Second Stride is kicking off its 2024 fundraising with raffles for third-floor boxes at Churchill Downs for Kentucky Derby Day and Kentucky Oaks Day.

In all of its first five runnings, the January grade 1 stakes at Gulfstream Park has been captured by American horses. That could change Saturday with a European filly, Warm Heart, favored in the 1 1/8-mile turf contest.