Flower Alley. Bernardini. Street Sense.

These three are not just the three most recent Travers Stakes winners, but also the last three Jim Dandy winners, further cementing it’s role as the traditional prep for the Mid-Summer Derby.

So it is no wonder all eyes were focused on the cast of seven 3-year-olds to load the gate in the Sunday feature.

Yet what was learned from Macho Again’s half-length victory over Pyro?

We learned that apparently Da’ Tara and Mint Lane can’t be in the same race together as neither was willing to concede the early lead, battling stride-for-stride to the far turn in a ridiculous, as Nick Zito said afterwards, “suicide mission.”

While killing themselves, they managed to kill each other, staggering under the wire last and next-to-last.

Anak Nakal looked overmatched beforehand, and was never a factor, so no surprises there.

Tale of Ekati – who checked in fourth — made a menacing move turning for home, but flattened out badly through the lane, and continues to give zero indication that the mile and a quarter distance is within his scope.

Tiz Now Tiz Then didn’t even break his maiden until this April, yet held the lead past the eighth pole, eventually checking in third while beaten just over one length. Considering this was the first graded stakes try for Tiz Now Tiz Then, his effort was encouraging, and the connections hinted afterwards that the Travers is now the next target.

“He keeps improving,” said trainer Eoin Harty. “There is certainly a possibility that we will be back for the Travers.”

Pyro’s race has to be classified as disappointing as the 3/2 favorite had dead-aim on the leaders through the stretch, but was unable to get to the winner. While Steve Asmussen had few words following the race, jockey Shaun Bridgmohan said that he thought Pyro – who appeared hot in the paddock and in the pre-race — “ran a good race.”

Reading between the lines, however, it clearly fell short of what they expected.

Macho Again, owned by West Point Thoroughbreds, is simply a game racehorse, a point echoed by jockey Julien Leparoux following the race.

In fact, the complexion of this race was quite similar to his Preakness performance where he also steadied at the quarter pole before digging in through the lane.

In the Preakness, that effort was good enough for second. Yet on Sunday, it was good enough to win the Jim Dandy – but wouldn’t have won the Henry Walton.

The Henry Walton was an overnight stake for 3-year-olds carded one race prior to the Jim Dandy, and hosted several less experienced, less accomplished runners all hoping to give their connections reason to consider jumping into the deep end on August 23 in the Travers.

Owned in part by Will Farish, trained by Neil Howard, and ridden by Robby Albarado, Mambo in Seattle’s victory 36 minutes before the Jim Dandy not only rekindled memories of Grasshopper from last summer, it was also run in quicker time than its graded counterpart.

The final time for the Henry Walton was 1:50.98; the final time for the Jim Dandy was 1:51.16. Of even greater significance is that the final three eighths of a mile in the Dandy was over one full second slower, despite the fact Macho Again carried three pounds less in victory than Mambo in Seattle toted.

Mambo in Seattle has now logged three victories in a row, and may have gained invaluable experience while battling to the wire on the inside, quite reminiscent of the position Grasshopper found himself in last summer when dueling with Street Sense.

Testing Mambo in Seattle to the wire was You and I Forever, who likewise exited two-turn allowance races at Churchill Downs.

While the Jim Dandy has been established as the proven path to Travers success, the key to this season’s showcase event may have been unlocked one race earlier on Sunday.

>> Rain Dance

With only six turf races washed off during the entire 2007 racing season, they didn’t often get a chance. Yet during the rainy opening stanza this summer, Main Track Only entrants have flourished.

MTO’s have won eight of the 12 races taken off the grass thus far, including such winners as Worth a Shot ($71.50), Theartofcompromise ($12.40) and Loving Vindication ($10.40).

All told, the 33 MTO runners that raced in the 13 off-the-turf races have compiled a record of 8 wins, 6 seconds and 4 thirds.