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On the three-year-old filly front, Bouquet Booth, a daughter of second crop sire [Flower Alley], took her third straight win, following up her Delta Downs Princess Stakes (gr. III) tally, with a game victory in the Silverbulletday Stakes at Fair Grounds, a step towards the Fair Grounds Oaks (gr. II). Bouquet Booth is out of Toll Order, who is by Loup Sauvage (top-class middle-distance four-year-old in France), and there is another very good current runner in the second dam, as Toll Order is half sister to the dam of Havre de Grace, one of the best three-year-old fillies of 2010 (for good measure, she’s also half sister to the dams of multiple grade I winner Riskaverse, and graded stakes-winning sprinter Tasteyville).

Bouquet Booth is rated A++ by TrueNicks and is one of two stakes winners bred on a Distorted Humor (TrueNicks,SRO)/Riverman cross from only seven starters. This is actually a very clever mating. Distorted Humor’s dam is Northern Dancer/Mr. Leader (Hail to Reason/Djeddah); Flower Alley’s second dam is by Sadler’s Wells, who is Northern Dancer/Bold Reason (Hail to Reason/Djeddah). The broodmare sire, Loup Sauvage is a grandson of Never Bend (by Nasrullah, three-parts-brother to Royal Charger, the grandsire of Hail to Reason and a half brother to Bold Reason, the broodmare sire of Sadler’s Wells), and out of a mare by Nureyev, a three-parts-brother to Sadler’s Wells. Flower Alley is off to a good start this term as another daughter Lilacs and Lace (out of a Seattle Slew mare, and TrueNicks A++), took the California Oaks on New Year’s Day, and Sassy’s Dream (out of a mare by Theatrical, and again having Sadler’s Wells/Nureyev) was an impressive winner at Gulfstream Park.

Talking of Distorted Humor, his other second crop son, Sharp Humor (TrueNicks,SRO), added another stakes winner to his roster when three-year-old filly Angelica Zapata (TrueNicks A+) won the Cincinnati Tropy Stakes at Turfway Park by 5½ lengths. Angelica Zapata is out of a mare by Evansville Slew, so is another for the Distorted Humor/Seattle Slew cross, and her granddam is a sister to over-achieving West Coast stallion Unusual Heat. Sharp Humor now has four first crop stakes winners, and ten stakes horses. He stands for $7,500 this year, and Flower Alley for $10,000, both looking like pretty solid values.

Meanwhile, another of last year’s two-year-old filly graded winners showed she is heading in the right direction. Kathmanblu, winner of the Golden Rod Stakes (gr. II) on the dirt in November, was back on the turf for the Sweetest Chant Stakes (gr. III) at Gulfstream Park, and won by 1¼ lengths from the Giant's Causeway (TrueNicks,SRO) filly Excited, with the third horse nearly 11 lengths back. Kathmanblu is a member of the first crop of the promising Storm Cat horse Bluegrass Cat (TrueNicks,SRO), and is out of Abba Gold (by Devil’s Bag), a stakes placed half sister to grade I winner Friendly Michelle (Prioress Stakes). The second dam is the stakes winner Valiant Jewel, by one of Alydar’s less prominent sons, Buckley Boy.

Filed under: Recent Winners