Ocala

James Bryan "Luke" McKathan, Sr., the patriarch of one of Florida's most successful racing families and an accomplished horseman and pinhooker, died Feb. 14 at the age of 89. According to a lengthy profile on the McKathan family in a 2004 edition of the Florida Horse magazine, Luke McKathan was born and raised on a family farm in Alabama, where he picked cotton, and left home at 13 in search of a better life. He began his career in racing with Standardbreds and found a job with legendary harness racing...

Due to a forecast that calls for early-morning temperatures in the low 30s, officials at OBS have announced that the breeze show for their Winter Mixed Sale next Tuesday and Wednesday, Jan. 25 and 26, will begin Monday, Jan. 24 at 10 a.m. ET, one hour later than previously advertised. A total of 115 horses are cataloged in the sale's racing age section, with hips 251-329 in the original catalog. A printed supplemental catalog for hips 330-362 is now available on the grounds at OBS and can also be viewed...

Rushie (Liam's Map--Conquest Angel, by Colonel Jonh), winner of the GII Pat Day Mile, arrived at Pleasant Acres Stallions in Ocala, Florida, where he will stand the 2022 season. The deal was brokered by Jacob West. "We are very pleased to have Rushie join our roster of exceptional stallions in Florida. Right now, there are only three stallions by Liam's Map being offered to breeders in 2022--two are standing in Kentucky at Spendthrift and Airdrie Stud, and Rushie is here at Pleasant Acres Stallions," said Joe Barbazon. "Being able to...

New Vocations Racehorse Adoption Program has opened a satellite facility near Ocala, Florida as it continues to expand its aftercare efforts. The nation's oldest and largest racehorse adoption charity now has nine facilities in six states. "Part of our long-term plan has been to open a facility near Ocala," said New Vocations' Program Director Anna Ford. "Three years ago, we were looking into it but then we got the call to open a facility in Louisiana. We put Florida on pause because the need was greater in Louisiana at that...

Girvin (Tale of Ekati), whose first yearlings sold for up to $200,000 this season, will remain at $6,000 for his fourth year at Ocala Stud, the farm announced Monday. Winner of the GII Risen Star S. and GII Louisiana Derby in 2017, the Brad Grady colorbearer made that year's GI Haskell Invitational S. the biggest victory of his career. His yearling son of Grade III-winning juvenile filly Gold Edge (Eddington) was purchased by BSW/Crow for $200,000 at Fasig-Tipton this past July, the joint-highest price for a yearling by a first-crop...

Edited Press Release Well-respected Florida horseman George Isaacs has returned to the board of the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders' and Owners' Association after a brief absence due to term limits. Laurine Fuller-Vargas of Morriston, George Russell of Reddick, T. Paul Bulmahn of Ocala and Nick de Meric of Ocala were re-elected to the board. They will each serve a three-year term that will run until October 2024. Leaving the board because of term limits is Richard Kent of Kaizen Sales. Isaacs is a past FTBOA board member and officer, who became...

Three Rules (Gone Astray--Joy Rules, by Full Mandate), named the Florida-bred Horse of the Year and champion 2-year-old male in 2016 after sweeping the male division of the FTBOA Florida Sire Stakes that year, has been retired and will stand the 2022 breeding season at Robert Smith's Wesfield Farm in Ocala. His fee has not been announced. Three Rules, winner of the 2017 GIII Carry Back S. and third-place finisher in the GII Xpressbet Fountain of Youth S., was bred in Florida and raced for Bert Pilcher in the name...

OCALA, FL - Steady trade continued through the second session of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company June Sale of 2-Year-Olds Thursday in Central Florida, with a filly by Nyquist bringing the day's top bid when selling for $420,000 to Gary Hartunian's Rockingham Ranch. The session-topping juvenile was consigned by Eddie Woods. "It was another good day," OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski said at the close of business Thursday. "We carried a lot of the momentum that we had yesterday into today and I think it will carry on through...

The three-day Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's June Sale of 2-Year-Olds, one of the last stops on a juvenile sales season which has recorded strong demand for horses from its start in Ocala in March, on to Gulfstream Park in Hallandale, back to Ocala in April, and most recently in Timonium, Maryland, begins Wednesday morning at 10:30 a.m. "We certainly hope that the type of trends we saw in April and in this whole 2-year-old season translate over to June," said OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski. This year's OBS April...

This week the TDN Writers' Room hits the road for Ocala to talk with Terry Finley, Barry Eisaman, Nick de Meric and Randy Miles at the OBS April Sale.

Longtime Thoroughbred horseman John Fernung, 79, passed away Mar. 5, 2020, in Ocala, Florida. In the early 1970s, Fernung was the racing manager for the powerful Dan Lasater Racing Stable. Lasater Stable was the leading money winning stable in the country five years in a row and won three Eclipse Awards during that time. During Fernung's tenure as Lasater's racing manager, the stable raced Grade I winners, Hot N Nasty, Honky Star and Royal Glint among others. In the late 1970s, Fernung relocated from the racetrack to become Lasater's Farm...

Building on more than 35 years of experience "Saving Horses and Saving Lives" in partnership with Correctional Facilities across the United States, the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation (TRF) has established its first-ever partnership with a Department of Juvenile Justice program. Presented as a live-streaming launch event, the TRF and the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice will introduce the new equine program, TRF Second Chances Juvenile Program at CSI-Ocala, to a national audience Feb. 23. The event will feature remarks from the Secretary of the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice and include...