Whew, that's a toughy and I'll be bruttally honest...

I think Smarty Jones will get every chance to be a good stallion obviously because he is getting an unbelievable book of mares....Personally, I think he will only be okay when you look back on him and consider the mares he is getting....he was never a big horse and i question his pedigree to a degree..with that being said, Elusive Quality has a solid reputation and its not like he is horribly bred....I percieve Elusive Oualitys to get good racehorses more so than good stallions, if that makes any sense at all. (same principle of broodmare sires who can get producers but not necessarily good racemares)

The market allows for him to stand for $100K right now but I would not at all be surprised to see him come way down after a few crops hit the track....just my opinion....I always thought Lemon Drop Kid was way overpriced at $100K and would not prove to be a great stallion ad now he stands for $20K...we'll see, but if I had $100K I would rather go to Empire Maker or Pulpit or another stud....we'll see.

But with that being said, I also thought Mineshaft would prove to be a very good sire at $100K and it looks like I will be wrong because everybody is really cold and concerned about his babies...not nearly as good as expected and now his stud fee looks like it will plumit in a year ot two...

As for Afleet Alex, I personaly thing he was a better horse than Smarty Jones and had tremendous ability...on his best day he could beat about any horse in the world...I really believe that...his 3/8 of a mile burst was maybe the best I've ever seen (but I'm young).

With that being said, he has a very uninspiring pedigree and will be labled as a Skip Away or Silver Charm (and any other great horse that had a subpar pedigree) until he proves that he can produce past his pedigree.

I, for one, think he'll be the type of horse who will have some really fast horses and some really bad horses, and will be a useful stallion at a certain level...now, will $40,000 be the level?...he'll probably drop from there. But, I see him having a more prductive stallion career than some of the greats I mentioned above at a solid fee range of around $20-$30 K...we'll see