Pedigree

Z Humor's pedigree features notable classic influences in the first two generations, grafted onto a blue-collar female line, and the resulting combination looks solid enough to endure the 1 1/4-mile trip. The bay is by the highly successful stallion Distorted Humor, who burst to prominence by siring champion Funny Cide, the 2003 Kentucky Derby (G1) and Preakness S. (G1) winner, in his very first crop. That quickly erased any notion that progeny of Distorted Humor had to have distance limitations, an idea that emerged from the fact that Distorted Humor was himself a multiple Grade 2-winning sprinter-miler. No one-dimensional speedster, however, he is a son of champion Forty Niner, who just missed by a neck in the 1988 Run for the Roses and later captured the 1 1/4-mile Travers S. (G1). Distorted Humor's progeny have compiled an Average Winning Distance of 6.9 furlongs, but he is responsible for top-level performers at a wide variety of distances, on both dirt and turf. Besides Funny Cide, his outstanding routers include Flower Alley, winner of the 2005 Travers and runner-up in that year's Breeders' Cup Classic (G1); 2007 Haskell Invitational S. (G1) hero Any Given Saturday; and Grade 1 turf marathoner Fourty Niners Son.
Z Humor is the first foal from the winning Offtheoldblock, a daughter of two-time leading sire and potent stamina influence A.P. Indy. Honored as Horse of the Year in 1992, A.P. Indy landed the 1 1/2-mile Belmont S. (G1) as well as the Breeders' Cup Classic. A son of legendary Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew, A.P. Indy has sired progeny with a hefty Average Winning Distance of 8.2 furlongs. Among his leading offspring are 2003 Horse of the Year Mineshaft, classic winners Rags to Riches (the first filly in 102 years to win the Belmont) and Bernardini (2006 Preakness), and current Kentucky Derby hopeful Majestic Warrior. A.P. Indy is also beginning to have an influence as a broodmare sire, with his daughters producing the likes of champion Wait a While (Maria's Mon), Grade 1 hero Bluegrass Cat and Any Given Saturday, who is bred on the exact same cross as Z Humor. Indeed, Distorted Humor has crossed very well with Seattle Slew-line mares. The prime example is Funny Cide, who is out of a mare by the Seattle Slew stallion Slewacide.
Offtheoldblock is out of Grade 2 heroine Chip (Norquestor). Primarily a sprinter, Chip stretched her speed 1 1/16 miles to take the Rampart H. (G2), but her bloodlines shield a bit more distance capacity. Although the female line is not fashionable, it has produced the tough, resilient Maryland campaigners Kattegat's Pride (North Sea), a 10-time stakes queen, and multiple Grade 3-winning millionaire Silmaril (Diamond), who recently retired after collecting her 12th stakes trophy. Z Humor is inbred to two of the most influential stallions of the late 20th century, showing a 3 x 5 duplication of Mr. Prospector and a 4 x 5 duplication of Northern Dancer, hero of the 1964 Kentucky Derby.