Harmonious

John Sherriffs may have another star on his hands with Harmonious, who made short order out of the G1 QEII Challenge Cup at Keeneland on Saturday with a dominant run home in the stretch; final furlong in 12 seconds flat. Her still limited past performance lines - this was just her sixth start, her 4th win - are a thing of beauty with an unbroken string of improving Beyers which I'd presume will continue once the fig is posted here. Still ample room for improvement here; though she ran straight this time after bearing out badly last time, she seemed to get mixed up with her leads midstretch before leveling out to the wire.

Harmonious (Dynaformer) is a relative rarity these days in that she's a total outcross through her first five generations. She's out of an unraced Storm Cat mare who's a three-quarters sister to Jade Queen. You might remember that filly from a few years ago for also making a big splash at three, when she won two Grade 1's - the Garden City and the Flower Bowl, beating older horses in the latter - on the grass for Pletcher. Jade Queen never followed through on that promise, and in fact, never won another race. One gets the feeling that the story will be different with Harmonious.

The French filly Zagora rallied from last for second, and will stay in the U.S. with trainer Chad Brown.