Pedigree fun facts: Known Agenda Apr 6, 2021 Kellie Reilly/Brisnet.com
With his convincing victory in the Florida Derby (G1),
Known Agenda becomes the latest advertisement for his sire, Hall of Famer
Curlin, on the Kentucky Derby (G1) trail.
Curlin is a leading son of the
Mr. Prospector stallion
Smart Strike, who is emerging as a sire of sires. Other champion sons of Smart Strike making a name for themselves at stud include turf star English Channel and two-time Eclipse Award winner Lookin at Lucky, hero of the 2010 Preakness (G1), and sire of promoted 2019 Kentucky Derby victor Country House.
Himself a veteran of the 2007 Triple Crown trail, Curlin was still inexperienced when third to Street Sense and Hard Spun in the Kentucky Derby. But the brawny chestnut turned the tables on both to take the Preakness, and just got outdueled by champion filly Rags to Riches in the Belmont (G1).
Bloodlines Presented By Mill Ridge Farm: Idol Was A Milestone Winner For Top Sire Curlin Sponsored by:
Idol and Joel Rosario are up in the final strides to win the Santa Anita Handicap over Express Train
Leading sire Curlin (by Smart Strike) picked up another first-time stakes winner over the weekend, and the victory came in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap. Idol was making his sixth start, and the Santa Anita Handicap came as the bay colt s third success from six starts, with two seconds and a third, for earnings of $416,464.
The 75th stakes winner by Curlin, Idol was bred in Kentucky by My Meadowview LLC and sold as a yearling for $375,000 at the 2018 Keeneland September yearling sale.
Pedigree fun facts: Medina Spirit Feb 6, 2021 Kellie Reilly/Brisnet.com
When
Medina Spirit dug in gamely to withstand all comers in the Jan. 30 Robert B. Lewis (G3), he was expressing tenacity reminiscent of grandsire Giant’s Causeway – and a more distant ancestor, Wild Again.
Medina Spirit’s pedigree isn’t fashionable up front, as implied by the bidding in both of his sales appearances. Sold for a paltry $1,000 as a yearling, he brought $35,000 as a two-year-old in training.
That’s because his first-crop sire,
Protonico, wasn’t very commercial. The four-time graded stakes winner scored his marquee victory in the 2015 Alysheba (G2), where he channeled the fighting spirit of his sire Giant’s Causeway, and left Honor Code back in fifth. Protonico earned just shy of $1 million, but didn’t win a Grade 1, although he was runner-up in the 2014 Clark H. (G1) (with Constitution third) and also placed in the 2016 Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) in his final start. In t
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Charlatan winning the Malibu by 4 1/2 lengths under Mike Smith
Chestnut coats are not the most common color in the Thoroughbred. Bay, and then dark bay or brown, far outnumber the red-headed wunderkind of the breed, and yet for some reason, there are a considerable number of very high-class racers who are chestnuts. Man o War, as well as Triple Crown winners Sir Barton, Omaha, Whirlaway, Assault, Secretariat, and Justify, to name that few, stand out as superb racers with a chestnut coat.
Racing at Santa Anita on Dec. 26 was swept with a flood of three chestnuts getting their first Grade 1 victories. The most famous of these was Charlatan (by Speightstown), who won a division of the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby on May 2, only to have that prestigious prize removed from his record following the discovery of lidocaine in his system after a routine post-race test.