Pedigree fun facts: 2022 Belmont Stakes

Sire Keen Ice and grandsire Curlin both improved from the Derby to the Belmont. Keen Ice, seventh behind American Pharoah in the 2015 Run for the Roses, placed third to the Triple Crown champion at Belmont Park.

Curlin, third in the Derby, was just denied by champion filly Rags to Riches in the 2007 Belmont. But Curlin had the satisfaction of siring a Belmont winner in his first crop, Palace Malice (2013). He’s also had a Belmont runner-up in Irish War Cry (2017).

Curlin’s Preakness (G1)-winning son, Exaggerator, was unable to add to his classic record when 11th in 2016. Exaggerator has a son of his own in Saturday’s renewal, Skippylongstocking, who descends from the same female line as Belmont heroes Go and Go (1990) and Pavot (1945). Their common ancestress is Inaugural (foaled in 1910), hailing from the family labeled 10-a. 

Curlin is by Smart Strike, who also sired Rich Strike’s dam, Canadian champion Gold Strike. Thus Rich Strike, closely inbred to Smart Strike, can enhance his stats as a broodmare sire in the Belmont. Daughters of Smart Strike are responsible for a pair of Belmont third-place finishers in Mine That Bird, the 2009 Derby shocker, and First Dude (2010).  

Given Curlin’s near-miss to a filly in the 1 1/2-mile “Test of the Champion,” it’s ironic that his daughter Nest is taking on the boys in the Belmont. Furthermore, Nest represents the same trainer as Rags to Riches, Todd Pletcher, and she has a close pedigree connection as well. Nest’s dam is by A.P. Indy, the sire of Rags to Riches. A.P. Indy is also the broodmare sire of three Belmont placers, Bluegrass Cat (2006), Dunkirk (2009), and one-eyed Patch (2017).

Nest has five Belmont winners, all Hall of Famers, in her five-cross pedigree. Curlin belongs to the sire line of Mr. Prospector, himself a grandson of Belmont winners Native Dancer (1953) and Nashua (1955). A.P. Indy, star of the 1992 Belmont, is a son of 1977 Triple Crown sweeper Seattle Slew, out of a mare by 1973 Triple Crown legend Secretariat. 

A.P. Indy is a key influence in the ancestry of four of her Belmont rivals. 

A.P. Indy’s son Pulpit is the broodmare sire of Mo Donegal. By Uncle Mo, Mo Donegal gets more stamina from maternal side. His granddam, Grade 1-winning millionaire Island Sand, is by 1994 Preakness and Belmont winner Tabasco Cat. 

Pulpit’s son Tapit is the most successful Belmont sire of the modern era, with four winners to equal the record set by the 19th century patriarch Lexington. Last year, champion Essential Quality joined fellow Tapit colts Tapwrit (2017), Creator (2016), and Tonalist (2014) to put their sire in the record book. 

Tapit has three grandsons competing in Saturday’s Belmont. 

We the People is by the Tapit stallion Constitution and out of a mare by Hall of Famer Tiznow, the sire of 2008 Belmont upsetter Da’ Tara. That same Constitution-Tiznow cross, giving a duplication of the great Seattle Slew, has produced Tiz the Law, winner of the pandemic-altered 2020 Belmont run at 1 1/8 miles. We the People traces to the same tap root mare as 1942 Derby and Belmont victor Shut Out, the 16-g tribe going back to Polly Agnes (foaled 1865). 

Barber Road is by Tapit’s son Race Day. As a member of the family labeled 4-i, Barber Road shares the same remote ancestress, Lady Alice Hawthorn (foaled 1859), as Belmont scorers Hourless (1917) and Hurryoff (1933).

Tapit appears as the broodmare sire of Creative Minister, whose pedigree has more Belmont angles. Sire Creative Cause is a full brother to Destin, the 2016 Belmont near-misser. Creative Minister’s granddam, Winning Call, is by the influential Deputy Minister out of a Wild Again mare -- the reverse of the cross responsible for 2002 Belmont upsetter Sarava. Ironically, Sarava was trained by the same horseman who’s back with Creative Minister, Ken McPeek.

Aside from Sarava, Deputy Minister is also the broodmare sire of Curlin, Rags to Riches, and her Belmont-winning half-brother, Jazil (2006). Deputy Minister sired a memorable Belmont victor in Touch Gold, who denied Silver Charm the Triple Crown in 1997.

Golden Glider hails from the sire line of Deputy Minister, and he comes from the immediate family of Touch Gold. Golden Glider’s sire, Hall of Famer Ghostzapper, has also sired the dam of 2018 Triple Crown champ Justify. Golden Glider belongs to the 2-n tribe that’s produced, in addition to Touch Gold, Belmont winners High Echelon (1970) and Hall of Famer Point Given (2001).