I hope everyone had a good Father's Day weekend, whether you are a father yourself or just spent the day with yours.
Let's take a look at the performances in this weekend's graded stakes action.
-I don't think Paddy O'Prado could have dominated the Colonial Turf Cup more than he did as he easily put the field away after making a three-wide move coming off the far turn.
No word from trainer Dale Romans as to where this colt will race next, but the Grade 1 Secretariat at Arlington Park would seem like a logical spot given this performance.
-The New York Stakes at Belmont got off to a rough beginning when Sweet And Flawless and Nehantic Kat both scratched from the race in the morning. Then, when the gates finally opened for the five filly field, Gozzip Girl broke awkwardly and unseated jockey Ramon Dominguez, leaving just four to challenge for the top prize.
Lady Shakespeare looked like she was going to have way too much work to do when the field hit the top of the lane but she was able to sweep by all three of her rivals with ease and finished a comfortable 2 ¾ lengths ahead of Changing Skies (IRE).
-If you are a fan of pedigrees, you had to love the one for Leroy's Dynameaux, the upset winner of Sunday's Grade 3 Will Rogers Stakes at Hollywood Park. Sired by terrific turf miler Leroidesanimaux, out of a Dynaformer mare, Leroy's Dynameaux is a lightly raced gelding that broke his maiden on the downhill turf course at Santa Anita on March 26th and recently finished a narrow third in the Alcatraz Stakes at Gold Gate on May 15th.
It's tough to tell what the upside of this gelding will be going forward (I personally didn't think the Will Rogers was a tremendously deep or talented field), but Leroy's Dynameaux has the pedigree to have a nice career running at 8 to 8 ½ furlongs on the grass.
-Speaking of pedigree, former Preakness and Belmont winner Afleet Alex had a nice day in the Pegasus Stakes at Monmouth Park where Afleet Express and Afleet Again finished 1-2.
Afleet Alex isn't dominating the sire lists, but his runners seem to be gaining some steam in his second crop. Many of his two year old first time starters (at least most of the ones that I've watched) seem to have been a little slow from the gate and appeared to need a race before they got going. Afleet Alex himself was very precocious as a juvenile (winning both the Grade 1 Hopeful and the Grade 2 Sanford), but his off-spring seem to be putting it all together a little later on in their careers.
Afleet Alex's first crop saw 20 winners from 60 runners, with 2 stakes wins. His (current) second crop has 36 winners from 88 runners, with 5 stakes wins. He currently ranks #45th among 2010 sires (according to Bloodhore Stallion Register online).