Kentuckian: Like father, like son?

In 2000, champion 3-year-old male and Horse of the Year honors went to a colt who wasn't even on the radar screen when Fusaichi Pegasus scored a facile victory in the Kentucky Derby (USA-G1). After seeing the ease of "Fu Peg's" victory, many people were predicting a Triple Crown. Instead, Fusaichi Pegasus was soundly beaten by Red Bullet for the Preakness Stakes (USA-G1), skipped the Belmont Stakes (USA-G1), and ended up winning only the Jerome Handicap (USA-G2) during the remainder of the year. In the meantime, Johnny-come-lately Tiznow, who hadn't even broken his maiden until Fu Peg's Derby win was in the books, picked up his first stakes win in the Affirmed Handicap (USA-G3) in June. The late-maturing Cal-bred kept improving from there, climaxing with a dramatic victory over European Horse of the Year Giant's Causeway in the Breeders' Cup Classic (USA-G1) to take the golden Eclipse Award.

Now Tiznow's son Kentuckian appears poised to take a similar path. A look at him racing down the stretch in last weekend's Lazaro Barrera Stakes (USA-G3) makes it obvious why he wasn't pressed for more earlier; while he clearly has remarkable talent, he has the gangly, rawboned look of a high school kid who hasn't quite grown into himself. But the kid can run, and he's already ahead of where his sire was at this time in his sophomore season. It will be interesting indeed to see if the parallels keep getting closer, since Kentuckian's next stop may be the Affirmed Handicap, the race his father won 14 years ago.