Flower Alley grandson lands La Jolla Handicap


Wilgerbosdrift’s inform stallion Flower Alley is already showing considerable promise as a broodmare sire, and the former G1 Travers Stakes winner was back in the headlines as a broodmare sire on Sunday when his maternal grandson Smooth Like Strait won the G3 La Jolla Handicap at Del Mar.

In the process, Smooth Like Strait accounted for G1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, and US champion, Storm The Court.

A three-year-old son of Midnight Lute, Smooth Like Strait defied joint topweight to land Sunday’s La Jolla Handicap by two and a half lengths with Storm The Court back in second spot.
Trained by Mike McCarthy, and ridden on Sunday by Umberto Rispoli, Smooth Like Strait has now won four of eight starts, with his previous wins including the 2019 G3 Cecil B. Demille Stakes.

Sunday’s winner is out of the Flower Alley mare Smooth As Usual.

Flower Alley, also broodmare sire of multiple G1 winner Lucky Lilac and G3 Tempted Stakes winner Daisy, is himself the sire of nearly 50 black type horses with his progeny having already banked more than $41 000 000 in prize money.