Racing in the US on Saturday saw the G1 Blue Grass Stakes ($750,000) for 3 yo over 1 1/8M. The winner - by a margin of 6 lengths (a further 3 lengths to third) was a colt - BANDINI - sired by Coolmore's heavily marketed star (as he has to be at a stud fee in the US of $150,000) Fusaichi Pegasus. The winning time for the race: 1:50.

The Coolmore press machine went, naturally enough, into overdrive. Today's Coolmore Bulletin states:

"Bingo! The signs were there. He had the numbers — first-crop winners, stakes winners and group winners. And stakes horses aplenty, in both hemispheres. All we’ve been waiting for is that last number — the big one, the Group One hero that would frank him as the ‘real thing’.

"Fusaichi Pegasus now has that G1 winner. And what a way to get it! On Saturday at Keeneland, son Bandini won the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes. And didn’t just win it. He absolutely paralysed his rivals, storming down the stretch to a 6-length victory that surely now places him among the favourites for the May 7th G1 Kentucky Derby."

Of note another Fusaichi Pegasus colt - Andromeda's Hero - ran third in the Arkansas Derby (G2) on the same day. The Coolmore Bulletin mentions this of course: For on the same day that Bandini triumphed, another son, Andromeda’s Hero, ran 3rd in the US$1 million Arkansas Derby-G2. And if not for setbacks to FuPeg’s first two ‘talking horses’, dual G2 winner Roman Ruler and hugely impressive debut winner Fusaichi Samurai, ‘Superman’ might very well have had as many as four first-crop 3yos in this year’s G1 Kentucky Derby."

What the Coolmore Bulletin DOESN'T mention is that Andromeda's Hero (remembering that the Arkansas Derby was run over the same distance - 1 1/8M, same age group - 3yo's, indeed, same day [may have been different weather so feel free to send me an abusive email if that was the case]) ran third to a colt - AFLEET ALEX - whose sire Northern Afleet stands at Taylor Made Farm in Kentucky (alongside Forestry, Our Emblem, Real Quiet and Unbridled's Song) for a service fee of just US$12,500. The winning margin in that race was 8 lengths (a further 3/4 to third) and - take note -the time was 1:48 4/5 (ft).

Perception vs reality. It's an interesting debate.