Pedigree fun facts: Burnham Square

Feb 10, 2025 Kellie Reilly/Brisnet.com

From the sire line of 1990 Kentucky Derby (G1) champion Unbridled, Burnham Square also has Derby-winning sires on his mother’s side. His maternal grandmother is by 1983 Derby hero Sunny’s Halo and out of a mare by 1973 Triple Crown legend Secretariat.

Burnham Square’s grandsires, Unbridled’s Song and Scat Daddy, were top juveniles who went on to win the Florida Derby (G1) but couldn’t follow up at Churchill Downs. Both became outstanding sires, with Scat Daddy furnishing Triple Crown sweeper Justify.

Moreover, Burnham Square is a third-generation graded winner for his female line, all homebreds for Janis R. Whitham. His dam (mother) Linda, emulated her own mother, Beautiful Noise, by capturing a Grade 2 race on turf.

Here are Burnham Square’s pedigree fun facts:

Sire Liam’s Map is an older half-brother to Not This Time.

Burnham Square is by Liam’s Map, who is a half-brother to Not This Time, the sire of recent Lecomte (G3) winner Disco Time. Not This Time made a mark on the Triple Crown trail by siring champion Epicenter, the runner-up as the favorite in the 2022 Derby and Preakness (G1).

Liam’s Map and Not This Time are both out of the classy sprinter Miss Macy Sue. You can find much more on her in Disco Time’s “Pedigree fun facts.”

Their breeder, Albaugh Family Stables, sold Liam’s Map for $800,000 as a yearling in 2012. But they resolved not to part with his younger half-brother – hence the name, “Not This Time.”

The half-brothers, by different sires, also had different career trajectories. While Not This Time (by Giant’s Causeway) raced only as a juvenile before injury forced his retirement, Liam’s Map (by Unbridled’s Song) didn’t debut until the summer of his three-year-old season.

Liam’s Map set a Keeneland track record at the Breeders’ Cup.

Runner-up in his first try at Saratoga, Liam’s Map rapidly climbed the class ladder with maiden and allowance romps. He passed his initial stakes test in the 2014 Harlan’s Holiday S. at Gulfstream Park and made it four wins in a row in his 2015 reappearance at Belmont Park. Just caught by champion Honor Code when nearly wiring the Whitney (G1), Liam’s Map rebounded by dominating the Woodward (G1).

Had he advanced to the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1), Liam’s Map would have had to tangle with another top frontrunner, American Pharoah, over a testing 1 1/4-mile trip. Instead, Liam’s Map opted for the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1), and he went out on a high note in track-record time at Keeneland. He was never out of the top two, compiling a sterling mark of six wins and two seconds from eight starts.

Grandsire Unbridled’s Song was the beaten favorite in the 1996 Derby.

Liam’s Map’s sire, Unbridled’s Song, announced himself as a leading Derby contender when landing the 1995 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1). Although narrowly overturned at odds-on in the 1996 Hutcheson (G2) and Fountain of Youth (G2), Unbridled’s Song took a leap forward with a 5 3/4-length conquest of the Florida Derby. He added the Wood Memorial (G2) to confirm his favoritism for the Kentucky Derby, only to have foot problems compromise him when fifth in the Run for the Roses.

Unbridled’s Song ranks as a deeply influential sire. He’s responsible for six Breeders’ Cup winners, led by Hall of Famer Arrogate in the 2016 Classic. Midshipman, the 2008 Juvenile champion, and three Distaff (G1) heroines – Unbridled Elaine (2001), Unrivaled Belle (2010), and Forever Unbridled (2017) – join Liam’s Map in the sextet.

Unbridled is the most recent Kentucky Derby winner to sire one.

Ironically, Unbridled’s Song lost the 1996 Derby to another son of Unbridled, Grindstone. Unbridled thereby became the 12th Derby hero to have a son succeed him in the Run for the Roses, and he remains the most recent.

Unbridled, a vector of the Mr. Prospector sire line, has emerged as a key influence in U.S. classic pedigrees. His 2003 Belmont (G1)-winning son, Empire Maker, is the male-line ancestor of American Pharoah, and Unbridled’s daughters include Tap Your Heels, the mother of supersire Tapit.

Burnham Square’s mother scored her biggest win on the Churchill turf.

Burnham Square is out of Linda, an earner of $407,310 who was an admirably consistent performer on turf. Trained by Ian Wilkes like Burnham Square, Linda scored her signature win in the 2016 Mrs. Revere (G2) at Churchill. She topped an exacta with a high-profile daughter of Scat Daddy, Harmonize, the winner of that summer’s Del Mar Oaks (G1). Harmonize has since foaled turf millionaire Integration.

Linda placed in five other turf stakes. Second in the Valley View (G3) in her prior start at Keeneland, she also collected minor awards in the 2017 Honey Fox (G2), the Churchill Distaff Turf Mile (G2), the Indiana General Assembly Distaff, and the Kentucky Downs Ladies Turf (G3) (to globetrotter Miss Temple City).

Maternal grandfather Scat Daddy’s legacy goes beyond Justify.

Linda is by Scat Daddy, hero of the 2006 Champagne (G1) and 2007 Florida Derby. His Kentucky Derby run ended up being his last, as he exited his 18th-place finish with an injury and headed off to stud.

A scion of Storm Cat’s sire line, via his transatlantic champion Johannesburg, Scat Daddy was a sire of international renown before his untimely passing. His sons Justify, No Nay Never, Mendelssohn, Sioux Nation, and Sergei Prokofiev are carrying the torch, but Scat Daddy’s daughters are likewise having an impact.

Grade 1-winning millionaire Daddys Lil Darling, runner-up in the 2017 Kentucky Oaks (G1), foaled 2023 Irish Oaks (G1) star Savethelastdance. Also out of Scat Daddy mares are 2020 champion sprinter Whitmore, current Kentucky Oaks hopeful Take Charge Milady, and UAE Derby (G2) contender Heart of Honor.

Grandmother Beautiful Noise had the same trainer as John Henry.

Linda’s mother, $516,902-earner Beautiful Noise, was based with Ron McAnally, the Hall of Fame horseman forever associated with the great gelding John Henry. She was often ridden by Chris McCarron, likewise John Henry’s jockey in the final two seasons of his storied career.

Beautiful Noise, who came along more than a decade after John Henry’s retirement, was a mainstay in the filly and mare turf division in Southern California. After placing in four straight graded stakes, including a near-miss by a head in the 2000 Las Palmas H. (G2), Beautiful Noise just got up by the same tight margin in the 2001 Santa Ana H. (G2). She placed again in the Santa Barbara H. (G2), came up a half-length short when rallying for third in the Gamely H. (G1), and finished a very close fourth in the Ramona H. (G1).

Sunny’s Halo joined Northern Dancer as a Canadian-bred Derby winner.

Beautiful Noise is by Sunny’s Halo, Canada’s champion two-year-old colt of 1982 who went on to glory in the 1983 Kentucky Derby. He remains only the second Canadian-bred to wear the roses, after breed-shaper Northern Dancer.

Sunny’s Halo couldn’t match Northern Dancer’s record at stud, but he did sire millionaire Dispersal, winner of the 1989 Louisiana Derby (G3) and 1990 Woodward H. (G1); 1994 Wood Memorial (G1) scorer Irgun; and Grade 1 queen Race the Wild Wind.

Race the Wild Wind became a noted broodmare, producing French Group 1 hero King Charlemagne. She also factors as the ancestress of Grade 1 winners Daredevil, Albertus Maximus, Here Comes Ben, and Dayoutoftheoffice.

Another famous son of a Sunny’s Halo mare is Scrappy T, perhaps best known for veering into the path of Afleet Alex in the 2005 Preakness. Afleet Alex’s nimble recovery converted potential disaster into an incredible triumph, and Scrappy T held second in an all-around happy ending.

Burnham Square descends from a daughter of Secretariat.

Beautiful Noise was bred on the same cross as Irgun, being by Sunny’s Halo and out of a Secretariat mare. Beautiful Noise’s dam, Listen Well, also produced multiple Grade 1 winner Listening. Her other descendants include La Coronel, whose marquee win came in the 2017 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (G1) at Keeneland.

Listen Well is herself out of Margaret’s Number, twice a Grade 3 winner on the turf in New Jersey. Margaret’s Number was a graded stakes producer herself, and her most memorable descendant is champion sprinter Lost in the Fog.

Ancestor Native Charger finished fourth in the 1965 Derby.

Margaret’s Number is by Native Charger, a son of Hall of Famer Native Dancer who was on the Derby trail in 1965. The winner of the Flamingo S. and Florida Derby, Native Charger checked in fourth in the Run for the Roses.

Native Charger sired High Echelon, the 1970 Belmont victor and Kentucky Derby third, as well as that year’s champion two-year-old filly, Forward Gal, who has a Road to the Kentucky Oaks race named in her honor. Another daughter of Native Charger foaled the 1982 Preakness upsetter, Aloma’s Ruler.

Ancestor Correlation was the beaten favorite throughout the 1954 Triple Crown.

Margaret’s Number raced 44 times. That was just about half the number of starts made by her own dam, Dungiven, a veteran of 89 races!

Dungiven’s sire, Correlation, turned the Florida Derby/Wood Memorial double in 1954 and accordingly went off as the Kentucky Derby favorite. Unfortunately, Correlation found himself near the back of the pack after getting bumped at the start, and he wound up sixth.

Favored again in the Preakness, he was a close runner-up. Bettors stuck with Correlation in the Belmont, but he faded to fifth, achieving the dubious distinction of losing all three jewels of the Triple Crown as the favorite.

Burnham Square traces to the mare who produced unbeaten Colin.

Tracing the direct female line back to the late 19th century, one finds British import *Pastorella. She won the Zetland S. as a juvenile in 1894, but her lasting renown comes through her son Colin. One of the all-time greats of U.S. racing, Colin was flawless in 15 career starts, highlighted by a brave performance in the 1908 Belmont.