10 Pedigree fun facts: Catching Freedom

Mar 31, 2024 Kellie Reilly/Brisnet.com

Catching Freedom’s sire, Constitution, and paternal grandsire, Tapit, have been star-crossed in the Kentucky Derby (G1), but perhaps their fortunes will change on this first Saturday in May.

Catching Freedom might be lifted by his inbreeding to 1990 Kentucky Derby champion Unbridled, the male-line progenitor of four Derby heroes. And Catching Freedom’s dam (mother) is by Pioneerof the Nile, the sire of 2015 Triple Crown champion American Pharoah.

Here are 10 pedigree fun facts:

1. Constitution was a leading contender for the 2014 Derby.

By extending his record to a perfect 3-for-3 in the Florida Derby (G1), Constitution emerged as a major hope for the Run for the Roses. Indeed, since he had been unraced at two, he sparked discussion of possibly defying the historical trends against horses of his profile in the Derby. At that time, there had been only one unraced juvenile who went on to win the Derby, Apollo (1882) (until Justify in 2018 and Mage in 2023).

Constitution never got his chance to compete in the Derby, having been sidelined by injury, in what trainer Todd Pletcher called “one of the biggest disappointments of my career.” But he returned to action later that fall and ultimately enhanced his resume with a victory in the 2015 Donn H. (G1).

2. Constitution’s son Tiz the Law was the beaten favorite in the 2020 Derby.

Off to a great start as a stallion, Constitution sired $2.7 million-earner Tiz the Law in his first crop. Tiz the Law was precocious enough to romp in the 2019 Champagne (G1) as a juvenile. Unfortunately the 2020 classics got re-arranged by the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic, and that might have cost him in the postponed Kentucky Derby.

In peak form that spring and summer, Tiz the Law emulated his sire by winning the Florida Derby, then rolled in the Belmont (G1) (that was shortened to 1 1/8 miles) and Travers (G1). But his skein ended in the Derby over Labor Day weekend, where he went off as the 7-10 favorite and settled for second.

3. Constitution descends from the sire line of Seattle Slew.

Constitution’s sire, Tapit, won the 2004 Wood Memorial (G1) but wound up ninth in the Derby behind Smarty Jones. At stud, however, Tapit has been prolific, siring such champions as unbeaten Horse of the Year Flightline, Essential Quality, Unique Bella, and Untapable. He has yet to get a Derby winner, but his influence is especially pronounced on the third jewel of the Triple Crown; a record-tying four Belmont winners are by Tapit.

Tapit is furthering the legacy of his male-line ancestor, Seattle Slew. Brilliant in sweeping the 1977 Triple Crown, Seattle Slew sired a fellow Hall of Famer in A.P. Indy, the star of the 1992 Belmont. A.P. Indy has made his mark on the breed, through both sons and daughters. His son Pulpit, the 1997 Blue Grass (G2) and Fountain of Youth (G2) victor, furnished Tapit.

4. Constitution’s Royal Ascot-placed mother is by the same sire as Funny Cide.

Constitution is out of Baffled, by Distorted Humor, who sired 2003 Derby and Preakness (G1) hero Funny Cide. Distorted Humor is also responsible for 2005 Travers victor Flower Alley, himself the sire of 2012 Derby/Preakness champ I’ll Have Another.

Baffled started her career in England, notably placing third in the 2007 Albany (G3) at Royal Ascot. She is a full sister to Group 2 winner Surfer, a longtime Dubai Carnival performer, and a half-sister to Emcee, successful in the 2012 Forego (G1) at Saratoga. Aside from Constitution, Baffled has produced Group 2 scorer Boynton and Grade 3 queen Jacaranda (dam of 2024 Triple Crown nominee Be You).

5. Catching Freedom’s half-brother almost beat Arcangelo.

Catching Freedom is a half-brother to Bishops Bay, who battled future divisional champion Arcangelo in last year’s Peter Pan (G3) and succumbed by just a head. In his next start, Bishops Bay was best of the rest behind Two Phil’s in the Ohio Derby (G3). Another half-brother, Strava, placed in a pair of stakes including the 2022 Ellis Park Derby. Like Catching Freedom, Strava and Bishops Bay were both nominated to the Triple Crown in their respective years.

Their mother, Catch My Drift, romped in the 2015 Summer Colony S. at Saratoga and finished third in the Beldame (G1) in her only ensuing start. She’d earned her first stakes credit as a sophomore, when runner-up in the Turnback the Alarm H. (G3) at Aqueduct.

6. Catching Freedom’s mother is by 2009 Derby runner-up Pioneerof the Nile.

Catch My Drift is by Pioneerof the Nile, who won four graded stakes in a row on the Derby trail, capped by the 2009 Santa Anita Derby (G1). But at a sloppy Churchill Downs, he could get no nearer than a distant second to the 50-1 Mine That Bird.

Pioneerof the Nile turned the page on that disappointment by siring Horse of the Year American Pharoah, the first to sweep the Triple Crown since Affirmed 37 years prior (in 1978). Another champion son of Pioneerof the Nile, Classic Empire, took the 2016 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) and missed narrowly in the Preakness.

7. Catching Freedom is inbred to Derby champion Unbridled.

Pioneerof the Nile is by Empire Maker, a son of Unbridled who was second as the favorite in the 2003 Derby. Unbridled is also a key ingredient in Tapit’s genetic makeup: Tapit’s mother, Tap Your Heels, is a daughter of Unbridled.

Thus Unbridled appears twice in Catching Freedom’s pedigree. Because he is found in the fourth generation on both sides, the shorthand description for that pattern is 4×4.

Unbridled has continued to make his presence felt in the Derby, as the sire of 1996 winner Grindstone (himself the paternal grandsire of Mine That Bird) and male-line ancestor of American Pharoah and 2017 Derby victor Always Dreaming. But Unbridled also turns up on the maternal side of Derby scorers Orb (2013) and Mandaloun (2021).

8. Ancestor Yonaguska was part of an historic dead-heat at Saratoga.

Catch My Drift’s dam, Drift to the Lead, is by Yonaguska, a precocious two-year-old who developed into a useful sprinter for Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas. Yonaguska is best remembered for his dead-heat victory in the 2000 Hopeful (G1), the only time in the history of Saratoga’s marquee race for juveniles that two horses tied for the win.

Sharing the spoils with Yonaguska was his archrival City Zip. The two had traded decisions in a pair of stakes earlier that summer, with Yonaguska winning the five-furlong Flash S. and City Zip turning the tables in the six-furlong Sanford (G2). They met a few times after the Hopeful, notably when Yonaguska and City Zip ran one-two in the 2001 Hutcheson (G2). (City Zip, a half-brother to Hall of Famer Ghostzapper, went on to become an outstanding sire.)

Yonaguska, who was also third in the Champagne at two, ultimately focused on sprinting. He beat older horses in the 2001 Sport Page H. (G3) and Fall Highweight H. (G2). As a sire, Yonaguska is responsible for millionaire Musket Man, the hero of the 2009 lllinois Derby (G2) and Tampa Bay Derby (G3) and placegetter in several majors, including the Kentucky Derby and Preakness.

9. Ancestor Tabasco Cat won the 1994 Preakness and Belmont.

Drift to the Lead is herself out of a mare by another Lukas alum, Tabasco Cat. Although historically overshadowed by the exploits of his contemporary, Hall of Famer Holy Bull, Tabasco Cat was able to win two-thirds of the Triple Crown in Holy Bull’s absence.

The fiery son of Storm Cat moved forward from a sixth in the Run for the Roses to defeat Kentucky Derby upsetter Go for Gin in both the Preakness and Belmont. Later third to Holy Bull in the Travers, Tabasco Cat beat elders (including Hall of Famer Best Pal) in the Kentucky Cup Classic and just missed by a neck to another three-year-old of that memorable crop, Concern, in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1).

Tabasco Cat has made an impact as a broodmare sire. Some of his top performers on the racetrack have been fillies who turned into noteworthy producers: his multiple Grade 1 vixen Habibti produced millionaire Eldaafer; Tabasco Cat’s Grade 1-winning millionaire Island Sand is the grandmother of 2022 Belmont star Mo Donegal; and his Grade 2-winning daughter Spice Island foaled Ice Box, the 2010 Florida Derby winner and Kentucky Derby runner-up. Other major winners out of Tabasco Cat mares are Jackson Bend, Mr Freeze, Love Theway Youare, Om, and Bridgetown.

10. Catching Freedom belongs to same family as international turf star April Run.

Catching Freedom hails from the female line of reigning Lukas Classic (G2) winner Clapton. Wintering in Dubai this season, Clapton finished third in a pair of preps at the Carnival before an unplaced attempt in the March 30 Dubai World Cup (G1).

They belong to the family labeled number 42, whose luminaries include transatlantic champion filly April Run and Czaravich. April Run beat older males in back-to-back editions of the Turf Classic (G1) at Belmont Park as well as in the 1982 Washington D.C. International (G1) while placing in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (G1) and Japan Cup (G1).

Czaravich’s biggest wins came mostly at a mile, topped by the prestigious Metropolitan H. (G1) in 1980, but he didn’t miss by much in a few longer prizes. Only a neck shy in third in the 1 1/4-mile Suburban H. (G1), he also came close in the Wood Memorial (G1) and Whitney (G2).