Travers Stakes winner Flower Alley, whose second South African crop are now three-year-olds, looks poised for a potentially big season in 2020-2021.
Flower Alley (photo: hamishNIVENPhotography)
The son of Distorted Humor came up with a hugely impressive debut winner on Saturday when his well bred son Reunion won by over ten lengths at the first time of asking.
A full-brother to the smart Azores,a good winner earlier in the season, Reunion is bred to need considerably more ground than the 1600m trip of his debut win and he could well be a horse to follow.
Flower Alley’s current crop of three-year-olds also include recent Gr2 Western Cape Fillies Championship winner Princess Calla, a likely contender for the Gr1 Cape Fillies Guineas, and Perfect Promise Sprint runner up Lemon Delight.
The latterr, runner up in Saturday’s De Grendel CTS Ready To Run Stakes, ran fourth to Princess Calla in the Fillies Championship and could also be a Fillies Guineas contender.
Princess Calla (Pic- Chase Liebenberg)
With his other potential flagbearers this season including the likes of Azores, Marygold, and Christmas Flower, Flower Alley could well be on track for a memorable season!
An excellent racehorse who earned over $2 500 000 on the track (his wins included four at graded level), Flower Alley won one of the most important races in North America -the Travers Stakes-won by such outstanding stallions as Damascus, Buckpasser, Alydar, Forty Niner (Flower Alley’s grandsire) and Medaglia D’Oro.
His Kentucky Derby winning son I’ll Have Another is now standing at stud in California, with I’ll Have Another’s progeny having earned over $19.33 million in stakes.
A son of Distorted Humor, and half-brother to a pair of Japanese Gr1 winning sires Spielberg and Tosen Ra, Flower Alley is also showing considerable promise as a broodmare sire, with his daughters having already produced Japanese star, and four time Gr1 winner Lucky Lilac (Orfevre), and multiple graded stakes winner Smooth Like Strait. The latter is considered a possible hope for the upcoming G1 Hollywood Derby.
By an outstanding broodmare sire from the family of another excellent broodmare sire in the form of Lyphard, Flower Alley appears to be on the way to making his mark as a maternal grandsire.
