Pedigree fun facts: 2024 Preakness Stakes

May 13, 2024 Kellie Reilly/Brisnet.com

Half of the eight runners in Saturday’s Preakness (G1), including Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Mystik Dan, are by horses who themselves competed in the middle jewel of the Triple Crown at Pimlico.

Tuscan Gold boasts strong Preakness connections on both halves of his pedigree. Although his sire, $5.7 million-earner Medaglia d’Oro, threw in the worst race of his life when eighth in the 2002 Preakness, he’s avenged that result as a stallion. Medaglia d’Oro sired Hall of Famer Rachel Alexandra, who defeated males in the 2009 Preakness, as well as Treasure, the dam (mother) of 2023 winner National Treasure.

Tuscan Gold’s mother, Valadorna, is herself by Hall of Famer Curlin, the 2007 Preakness star. Curlin joined an exclusive club by also siring a Preakness winner, Exaggerator (2016). Two more sons of Curlin placed in the Preakness, Ride on Curlin (2014) and Tenfold (2018).

2007 Preakness Stakes -- Curlin pic.twitter.com/mtMt1cVx5H

— History of Horse Racing (@horsevault) January 17, 2024

Valadorna, runner-up in the 2016 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1), would go on to earn a graded laurel in the 2018 Doubledogdare (G3) at Keeneland. Later that same year, Valadorna’s younger half-brother, Complexity, scored his signature win in the Champagne (G1). Complexity was trained by Chad Brown, who now has his “nephew,” Tuscan Gold.

Tuscan Gold belongs to the maternal family labeled 4-m that’s responsible for four Preakness winners – Bernardini (2006), Timber Country (1995), Faultless (1947), and Harold (1879) – although he descends from a blue-collar branch.

Preakness rival Just Steel comes from the same family, but as a much nearer relative of Timber Country. Just Steel has Timber Country’s trainer too, Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas.

But Just Steel’s part of the family took a detour to Australia, where his mother, Irish Lights, was bred. Irish Lights won the 2009 Thousand Guineas (G1) at Caulfield and produced two previous stakes winners, Australian Group 2 vixen Omei Sword and the Kentucky-bred Lipizzaner, a useful juvenile sprinter for Aidan O’Brien.

Just Steel is by Triple Crown champion Justify, who will try to become the 11th Preakness winner to sire one.

Imagination comes from the family of reigning Preakness winner National Treasure. By Into Mischief and out of Grade 2 winner Magical Feeling, Imagination is a full brother to Monmouth Oaks (G3) romper Occult, the third-placer in last season’s Acorn (G1) and Cotillion (G1). They descend from a full sister to 1946 Triple Crown sweeper Assault, who in turn traces to a full sister to the legendary Man o’ War, the 1920 Preakness conqueror.

As a son of Into Mischief and an Empire Maker mare, Imagination is bred along the same lines as 2021 Derby victor Mandaloun and current Dubai World Cup (G1) romper Laurel River. Leading sire Into Mischief has yet to furnish a Preakness winner, but his 2020 Derby hero Authentic missed by inches, and Owendale placed third in 2019.

Into Mischief also factors as the paternal grandsire of Mystik Dan, whose sire, Goldencents, finished fifth in the 2013 Preakness and later relished turning back in trip. But Mystik Dan gets stamina on his dam’s side.

Mystik Dan’s maternal grandfather, Colonel John, is by Hall of Famer Tiznow, who sired the mother of 2022 Preakness scorer Early Voting. While Mystik Dan’s female line, the clan labeled 4-r, has produced six Preakness winners, the connection is tenuous; they all came more than a century ago, the most recent being Watervale (1911).

Seize the Grey likewise has a very distant matrilineal link to Preakness success, in his case with 1941 Triple Crown legend Whirlaway, as a member of the 8-h family. Their common ancestress dates back to the 19th century.

By the late Hall of Famer Arrogate, who didn’t make his stakes debut until his track record-setting Travers (G1), Seize the Grey is out of a mare by key influence Smart Strike.

In addition to siring the aforementioned Curlin, Smart Strike is responsible for another Preakness-winning champion in Lookin at Lucky (2010). The close second in that running, First Dude, is himself out of a Smart Strike mare; so was 2009 Derby upsetter and Preakness runner-up Mine That Bird.

Pioneerof the Nile, best of the rest behind Mine that Bird in the Derby, regressed to 11th in the Preakness and never raced again. But he’s left a permanent legacy by siring 2015 Triple Crown champion American Pharoah, and now Pioneerof the Nile has two grandsons in Saturday’s field.

Uncle Heavy is by Pioneerof the Nile’s son Social Inclusion, the 2014 Preakness third. Like Mystik Dan, Uncle Heavy has Tiznow on his dam’s side; he’s out of a mare by Tiznow’s son Tiz Wonderful. Uncle Heavy’s female line belongs to the 2-n family that’s delivered Preakness winners Point Given (2001) and Whimsical (1906), but his is a different branch.

Catching Freedom is out of a Pioneerof the Nile mare, and his great-grandmother (third dam in the female line) is by 1994 Preakness and Belmont (G1) victor Tabasco Cat. Catching Freedom’s sire, Constitution, is by the patriarch Tapit. Although a Tapit descendant has yet to win the middle jewel, a couple of other scions of the A.P. Indy sire line have prevailed, Bernardini (2006) and the 2014 Derby/Preakness hero California Chrome.

Mugatu will try to become the second straight Preakness winner from the Quality Road sire line. A year ago, National Treasure scored a first Triple Crown race victory for sire Quality Road. Mugatu is by another son of Quality Road, Blofeld.

To broaden the picture and look at overall sire lines, Quality Road is one representative of supersire Mr. Prospector’s male line. Uncle Heavy and Seize the Grey are others from the “Mr. P” sire line in the Preakness.

Breed-shaper Northern Dancer, the 1964 Derby and Preakness champion, has four male-line descendants in Mystik Dan, Imagination, Just Steel, and Tuscan Gold. Catching Freedom flies the flag for the sire line of 1977 Triple Crown star Seattle Slew.