Business Notes Auctions

In baseball, it's the New York Yankees. In basketball, the Boston Celtics. In Thoroughbred racing, it's Calumet Farm. Since 1931 the Lexington, Ky., breeding farm and racing stable has produced two Triple Crown horses, nine Kentucky Derby champions and six Horse of the Year Eclipse Award winners.

But 10 years of mismanagement buried the farm under $127 million of debt, and owner Bertha Wright, who inherited Calumet in 1982, filed for bankruptcy protection in July. Last week all 850 rolling acres of Kentucky bluegrass, 15 red-and-white barns, a 14-room mansion and assorted trophies and memorabilia went on the auction block. Polish-born horseman and aviation magnate Henryk de Kwiatkowski, 64, got the 770-acre main parcel with a $17 million bid. De Kwiatkowski, who also paid $210,000 for the Calumet name, announced that he would keep the farm's staff and operate it as before. "When I saw this place being dismantled, it was an offense to me," he told more than 3,000 cheering spectators. "Not a whisker of this farm will be changed."