Alexander Helios

The sun is shining and the birds are singing, which means that spring has sprung and hopefully cold blasts are fixed over yonder. This kind of weather propagates the condition known to many as Derby fever, which technically has no definable cure. So, while you're tinkering with mint julep recipes or heading to the dry cleaners with your seersucker to keep the vapors in check, maybe what you need is to take a look at the weekend's graded stakes slate. The races are chock full of options, so let's not...

If you're going to make your stakes debut in graded company, may as well go big, right? Alexander Helios (Cairo Prince) certainly thought so as he took his grudge match with Banishing (Ghostzapper) down to the wire in the GIII Razorback Handicap. It took him eight tries to break his maiden, and a new trainer, but that 2 1/4-length victory beneath the Twin Spires in November 2023 yielded him a 93 Beyer in his first attempt at 1 1/8-miles for the barn of Saffie Joseph Jr.. It took three attempts...