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Events have made our look at last weekend a little belated, but there was one performance that can't be overlooked. The Alabama Stakes (gr. I) didn't see Rachel Alexandra in the line-up, but it did witness a Rachel like performance by Careless Jewel, who devasted her opponents to score by 11 lengths.
 
In winning the Alabama, Careless Jewel became the third grade I winner from the first crop of her sire, Tapit (TrueNicks,SRO) , following Champion Two-Year-Old Filly Stardom Bound and Laragh. Careless Jewel and stakes winner Bearcatt, are two of the only three runners sired by Tapit out of mares by Hennessy. A variation on the successful Pulpit/Storm Cat cross, it doubtless benefits from the fact that Tapit has a double of Nijinsky II, a horse who has combined extremely well with Storm Cat's sire, Storm Bird (similarly, Tale of the Cat (TrueNicks,SRO) , a grandson of Storm Bird, out of a sister to the dam of Pulpit, and also carrying Nijinsky II, has done very well when bred to mares carrying more Nijinsky II).
 
Another up-and-coming filly with a Storm Cat connection is Internallyflawless, who got the best of a close finish to the Del Mar Oaks (gr. I). Yet another star for Giant's Causeway, Internallyflawless is out of the Seeking the Gold mare, Tapatina. Rated A+ by TrueNicks, Internallyflawless is the product of what is becoming something of a "mega-nick" with Giant's Causeway having now sired five stakes winners, four graded, and two grade I winners out of mares by Seeking the Gold.
 
We'll also give a call to Chirac (Sligo Bay (IRE) (TrueNicks,SRO) - Mona Lisa by You and I), a member of Sligo Bay's first crop, who became the first graded stakes winner for his sire when he upset a sloppy renewal of the Philip H. Iselin Handicap (gr. III). A Sadler's Wells three-parts-brother to Singspiel (their dams are sisters), was a useful two-year-old in Europe where second in the group II Beresford Stakes, and third in the group I Criterium de Saint-Cloud and group III Prix de Conde. Sent to the U.S., he added wins in the grade III Cinema Handicap and Hollywood Turf Cup (gr. I), before retiring to stud.  Chirac - rated A+ by TrueNicks - is a grandson of Garden Grove, a mare who won the Santa Maria Stakes (gr. I), and is of the group-winning brothers, King Charlemagne (group I Prix Maurice Gheest) and Meshaheer, both by Sadler's Wells' three-parts-brother, Nureyev. She is also granddam of the Donn Handicap (gr. I) and Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile victor Albertus Maximus.