Between classics, it was a quieter weekend in the U.S. One race that might have Triple Crown implications was contested, the Peter Pan Stakes (gr. II) going to Belmont Stakes (gr. I) possible, Charitable Man (TrueNicks A). The victory of Charitable Man continues an outstanding season for his sire, Lemon Drop Kid, who now has nine 2009 stakes winners, five graded, putting him on a pace to match the 21 stakes winners he sired last year.

Charitable Man is out of the Saint Ballado mare, Charitabledonation, and it’s interesting that the two grade two winners to so far appear out of mares by Saint Ballado are by Lemon Drop Kid and Northern Afleet (Saint Afleet), Northern Afleet being bred on the same Mr. Prospector/Nureyev cross as Lemon Drop Kid’s sire, Kingmambo. Charitable Man is in fact bred on similar lines to Japanese stakes winner Admire Mambo, who is by Kingmambo out of Charitable Man’s third dam, Fortunate Facts. The fourth dam, Bald Facts, is a sister to stakes winner American Standard, and half-sister to Capote, Exceller and Baldski.

Lemon Drop Kid’s stud-companion, and fellow Mr. Prospector line horse, Smart Strike wasn’t left out of the action, and was represented by Smart Surprise, who took the Hendrie Stakes (gr. III) at Woodbine. The Lemon Drop Kid connection is continued, as Smart Surprise’s third dam, Lassie Dear, is granddam of Lemon Drop Kid. Out of Weekend Storm, Smart Surprise is three-part-sister to grade one winner Court Vision and stakes winning and grade one placed Lord Snowdon, who are both by sons of Mr. Prospector out of that same mare. Smart Strike has sired three stakes winners out of Storm Cat mares, and Weekend Surprise is by Storm Bird out of a mare by Secretariat, and bred on an identical cross.

There is no doubt that – even in the current financial climate – Smart Surprise is worth a small fortune as a broodmare prospect, and the same might be said about Witty. Making only her third start, she preserved her unbeaten record in the Railbird Stakes (gr. III) while bringing to an end the undefeated run of Arizona sensation Carlsbad (who was a game second, after setting brutal early fractions). A daughter of Distorted Humor, Witty is a sister to the Travers Stakes (gr. I) third, Helsinki, but more importantly, she is also half-sister to runaway Dubai World Cup (gr. I) hero, Well Armed. She is TrueNicks rated A++ on the Forty Niner/Notebook cross.

Grand Slam, who was one of our “Search For Value” stallions had a weekend grade two winner, Ball Four (out of the Lyphard mare Making Faces, and TrueNicks rated A++), who beat out Rail Trip (by another on the “Value” list, Jump Start) to take the Mervyn LeRoy Handicap at Hollywood Park.

Among the younger stallions, Congaree had his fourth stakes, winner and second graded stakes winner from his first crop, when Mythical Power took the $400,000 Lone Star Derby (gr. III). You’d have to say he’d have been the form horse, his last outing seeing him take second in the Sunland Derby with Mind That Birdie back in fourth. Mythical Power, whose dam has Missy Baba (whose family seems everywhere this weekend) 3 x 5 is bred on a cross that one would not think would be an obvious one (Blushing Groom/Raja Baba, his dam being by Is It True), but has actually proved quite useful in a number of diverse forms and is TrueNicks rated B.

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