Weekend Stakes Results and Recap

*Clicking on the race name will take you to the result chart at DRF.com.

• I didn't get a chance to watch the Charles Town races live.  Researcher made a very impressive move as the field moved up the backside and allowed himself to get a nice jump of Awesome Gem as they rolled into the far turn.  Pretty impressive performance and it makes you wonder why the connections are going to now point this horse towards steeplechases.
• Something must have been in the water and oats at Charles Town this weekend as three of the four highest stakes Beyers came ran at that track Saturday night.
• The results of the Lexington aren't going to get a lot of looks especially since it will have no impact as to which horses will make the Derby.  Keeneland was absolutley playing well to front end speed on the routes on Saturday, so in judging the Lexington I'd be inclined to discount the performance of Exhi while giving bonus points to runner-up Bushwhacked and third place finisher, Uptowncharlybrown, both of which ran strong races against the track trend.
• Speaking of Uptowncharlybrown, if this colt is ever entered back into a race on Polytrack I'll be ready and willing to back him for win honors based on two factors.  First, he handled the synthetic surface just fine in his first attempt.  That's always a big question mark and knowing that this colt can handle synthetics is a big positive for backing him in the future.  Second, he was able to make a big, closing move on a day where horses didn't have much of a chance with that running style.  He was probably seven or eight lengths behind the leaders after the first quarter, and a similar distance after the half.  
  
  Only one other horse in any of Saturday's route races made as big of move from the back to the front as Uptowncharlybrown, and that was Conservative in fourth race.  Both of those horses could come back to run much better over a synthetic surface on a less speed friendly track.  I'll be waiting for both.