THERE was a pair of Grade 1 races for two-year-olds in the USA last weekend, and both were won by horses representing the first crops of their sires.

The Spinaway Stakes on Sunday at Saratoga was the first Grade 1 juvenile contest of the year in the USA. It provided a first win for Vequist, a Swilcan Stables’ homebred daughter of Darley America’s Nyquist (Uncle Mo). The filly was beaten a neck on her debut, and had no trouble stepping up to Grade 1 level and she won in a near-record time for a stakes race over seven furlongs.