Pedigree fun facts: Speed King

Jan 31, 2025 Kellie Reilly/Brisnet.com

Speed King is an aptly-named colt from the first crop of outstanding sprinter Volatile. It’s ironic that Ron Moquett trains Speed King, since Volatile’s biggest win came at the expense of Moquett’s all-time best runner so far, Whitmore.

Moreover, Speed King has a pedigree connection to the trainer for whom Moquett initially worked before going out on his own – Bernard Flint. Speed King’s maternal grandmother, Im Out First, was a hardy stakes performer for Flint.

Here are Speed King’s pedigree fun facts:

Sire Volatile won five of six career starts, all at six furlongs.

Volatile didn’t make it to the races until the summer of his three-year-old season, but the $850,000 yearling purchase won promptly on debut at Ellis Park in 2019. The Steve Asmussen trainee was subsequently second in a Churchill Downs allowance in what turned out to be his lone loss. Volatile rebounded by three lengths over the same track and six-furlong trip, and in his 2020 reappearance at Oaklawn Park, he crushed a second-level allowance by 7 1/2 lengths.

Bet down to 1-2 favoritism in his first stakes try in the Aristides S. back at Churchill, Volatile overwhelmed them by eight lengths. His time of 1:07.57 nearly equaled the six-furlong track record. That made him the 2-5 favorite in the Alfred G. Vanderbilt H. (G1) at Saratoga, where Volatile controlled the pace to beat the Moquett-trained Whitmore. Volatile never raced again, but Whitmore went on to dominate the Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1).

Volatile is an “uncle” of Saratoga Special winner Showcase.

Volatile is a full brother to the precocious Buy Sell Hold, who won her first two starts early on two. After wiring a maiden during Keeneland’s spring meet, she gamely persevered to beat males in the 2017 Kentucky Juvenile at Churchill Downs. She added a graded placing to her record when third in the 2018 Miss Preakness (G3) at Pimlico.

Buy Sell Hold already has two stakes performer to her credit as a broodmare. Her first foal is multiple stakes-place Bourbon Bash, an earner of more than $500,000 so far, and her current three-year-old is the undefeated Showcase, last seen landing the Aug. 10 Saratoga Special (G2). Showcase, like mom and “uncle” Volatile, is a gray.

Paternal grandsire Violence was the early favorite for the 2013 Derby.

Volatile and Buy Sell Hold are by Violence, whose unbeaten streak through the CashCall Futurity (G1) made him the wintertime favorite for the 2013 Kentucky Derby (G1). But the talented colt sustained a career-ending injury in his runner-up effort in the Fountain of Youth (G2), fighting valiantly to miss by a half-length to future Derby hero Orb.

Violence’s champion son Forte had his own Derby heartbreak as the morning-line favorite. Arriving at Churchill with a winning streak including the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) and Florida Derby (G1), Forte had to be scratched on the morning of the Derby.

This is the sire line responsible for Rachel Alexandra and Thorpedo Anna.

Violence is a blueblood son of $5.7 million-earner Medaglia d’Oro, sire of Hall of Famers Rachel Alexandra and Songbird as well as current Derby hopeful East Avenue.

Medaglia d’Oro is emerging as a long-term influence through both sons and daughters. Aside from the success of Violence – who’s also sired Grade 1-winning sprinters Dr. Schivel, Mullikin, and No Parole – other Medaglia d’Oro stallions include Bolt d’Oro and the late Fast Anna, sire of reigning Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna.

Volatile is a grandson of millionaire Lady Tak.

Volatile’s mother, Melody Lady, is a stakes-winning daughter of Unbridled’s Song (himself by 1990 Derby champ Unbridled) and millionaire Lady Tak. Trained by Asmussen like her daughter and grandson, Lady Tak carried her brilliance around two turns in the 2003 Fair Grounds Oaks (G2). But her distance limitations were exposed in the Kentucky Oaks (G1) and Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1), resulting in rare unplaced efforts.

Lady Tak excelled going shorter, as exemplified in her signature wins at the Spa in the Test (G1) and the 2004 Ballerina H. (G1). She retired with a commendable record of 10 wins and six placings from 19 starts. Lady Tak produced three stakes scorers, Casual and Japanese-based A Shin Spartan joining Melody Lady in the black-type column.

Maternal grandfather Corinthian captured the first Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.

Speed King’s mother, Athenian Beauty, is by the regally-bred Corinthian. Both of his grandsires, A.P. Indy and Easy Goer, are Belmont (G1)-winning Hall of Famers. Although Corinthian stayed as far as 1 3/16 miles in the 2007 Gulfstream Park H. (G2), his marquee wins came in the vicinity of a mile in the prestigious Metropolitan H. (G1) and the inaugural Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. He was also first across the wire in the 2006 Fountain of Youth, only to be disqualified for interference.

Despite his pedigree, Corinthian did not make much of a mark as a sire. But his daughters have produced Like the King, winner of the 2021 Jeff Ruby Steaks (G3) on the Road to the Kentucky Derby; 2022 Forward Gal (G3) scorer Girl With a Dream; and prolific Minnesota-bred Mr. Jagermeister.

Grandmother Im Out First finished in the top three in 32 of 56 starts.

Im Out First was a gladiator over five seasons of racing, starting a grand total of 56 times and earning $438,628. Her “lightest” campaign consisted of 10 starts as a juvenile, and she raced 18 times at three. As an older horse, she made 14 starts apiece in 1997 and 1998.

Moreover, Im Out First won or placed in 32 of those career starts, including 11 stakes. The biggest of her four stakes wins came in the 1998 Lady Hallie H. at old Sportsman’s Park, and she picked up a graded placing when dead-heating for third in that year’s Sixty Sails H. (G3).

Im Out First is also the grandmother of 2016 Derby runner Mor Spirit.

Im Out First’s most accomplished daughter, Im A Dixie Girl, won the 2004 Bassinet S. and Colleen S. and also placed in that fall’s Astarita (G3). Her Bassinet victory was particularly notable because she beat fellow Flint trainee Runway Model, who went on to become a top-level performer in the division (and eventually the mother of McKinzie).

Im A Dixie Girl had success as a broodmare herself, foaling millionaire Mor Spirit. A prominent player on the 2016 Derby trail, Mor Spirit captured the Los Alamitos Futurity (G1) and Robert B. Lewis (G3) while placing in the Kentucky Jockey Club (G2), San Felipe (G2), and Santa Anita Derby (G1). After a 10th behind champion Nyquist in the Run for the Roses, Mor Spirit cut back in distance. He reeled off a stakes hat trick at four, culminating in a romp in the Met Mile.

Ancestor Allen’s Prospect factors in the pedigrees of Knicks Go and Disco Time.

Im Out First is by Allen’s Prospect, a blueblood son of Mr. Prospector whose racing career was limited by injury. But he became a leading sire in Maryland, and his influence extends to a much wider sphere. It’s fitting that his legacy endures through his daughters, considering that Allen’s Prospect is a half-brother to Broodmare of the Year Fall Aspen (both out of a mare by 1955 Derby legend Swaps).

Aside from Speed King and Mor Spirit, Allen’s Prospect factors in the pedigrees of 2021 Horse of the Year Knicks Go; Hookedonthefeelin, dam of fellow Grade 1 stars Pussycat Doll and Jimmy Creed; Midnight Lucky; and current Derby hopeful Disco Time.

Im Out First’s maternal relatives include champion Stellar Wind.

Im Out First is a half-sister to two other significant matrons, Evening Star and Zenith. Evening Star produced champion Stellar Wind, a six-time Grade 1 winner. Zenith, herself a Grade 3-placed stakes scorer, foaled 2006 Breeders’ Futurity (G1) hero Great Hunter who was unplaced in the 2007 Derby. Zenith’s other descendants include millionaire Owendale, the third-placer in the 2019 Preakness (G1).

Zenith, Evening Star, and Im Out First are all daughters of Sequins, whose sire, Northern Fashion, is a lesser son of Northern Dancer. Sequins is out of a mare by Calumet Farm homebred Gleaming, himself a grandson of Hall of Famer Twilight Tear.

Speed King traces to the same tap-root mare as three Derby winners.

Speed King’s maternal line belongs to the family labeled 1-n, sharing a common ancestress in the British mare Chelandry. The heroine of Newmarket’s 1000 Guineas in 1897, Chelandry was runner-up in the Oaks at Epsom as well as in the St Leger versus males.

Chelandry is the ancestress of three Kentucky Derby winners. The filly Genuine Risk (1980) is out of a half-sister to 1959 Derby victor *Tomy Lee, both descending from Chelandry’s daughter Samphire. Swale (1984) goes back to another daughter of Chelandry, Popinjay.

Speed King traces to yet another of Chelandry’s daughters, Skyscraper, who won the 1902 Cheveley Park S. and placed in both the 1000 Guineas and Oaks at three.