Thursday treble for Flower Alley


Wilgerbosdrift’s G1 winning stallion Flower Alley has been in great form over the past few weeks, and the former Travers Stakes winner enjoyed a notable day on Thursday when he supplied three winners at the Vaal.

Flower Alley’s first success came when his Stuart Pettigrew trained daughter Bold Fortune powered home, under Diego De Gouveia, to land a Progress Plate over 1500m, with Flower Alley gelding Foreign Field staying on for third.
In landing Thursday’s race by a comprehensive two and a quarter lengths, three-year-old Bold Fortune made it win number three from just ten starts.

Bred by the Narrow Creek Stud, Bold Fortune is out of the Rich Man’s Gold mare Plata Parana.

Her sire Flower Alley’s second success came when his impressive son Reunion made all to win Thursday’s fifth race, a Middle Stakes over 1800m, by a widening two and a quarter lengths. Ridden to victory by Gavin Lerena, the flashy three-year-old was making it back to back wins, with Reunion having won his last start by over five and a quarter lengths. 
Trained by Paul Peter, the Wilgerbosdrift & Mauritzfontein bred gelding had made a scintillating start to his career, with Reunion having won first time out by ten and a quarter lengths!

Flower Alley’s success on Thursday continued when his three-year-old daughter Opera Glass romped home over 2000m to win the Vaal’s sixth race by a length and three-quarters for Stephen Moffat and Jeffrey Syster.
Bred by Wilgerbosdrift & Mauritzfontein, Opera Glass had been second last time out, and the consistent filly has now won or placed in seven of her ten starts.

Flower Alley has also made his mark as a broodmare sire this year, and his top-class grandson Smooth Like Strait (who is out of the Flower Alley mare Smooth As Usual) is set to contest Saturday’s G2 Eddie Read Handicap at Del Mar this Saturday.
A four-year-old son of Midnight Lute, Smooth Like Strait has won seven of his 15 starts including the G1 Shoemaker Mile.