Benchmark's first winner, Standard Setter, won at Bay Meadows in :51.65 for 4 1/2 furlongs. The colt races as a homebred for Phillip Lebherz and Richard Meister. Benchmark (Alydar--Winters' Love, by Danzig) stands at Martin and Pam Wygod's River Edge Farm near Buellton, Calif.
Awesome Again, who won the 1998 Breeders' Cup Classic (gr. I), and grade II winner Benchmark were represented by their first winners, both on May 16. Awesome Again's initial winner, Miss Awesome, won at Churchill Downs. Bred by A Cross Ranch, Miss Awesome scored at five furlongs in :58.86 for Jocelyn Dickey McKathan. Awesome Again (Deputy Minister--Primal Force, by Blushing Groom) stands at Frank Stronach's Adena Springs Kentucky near Midway.