10 Pedigree fun facts: Hades

Feb 06, 2024 Kellie Reilly/Brisnet.com

Hades entered the Holy Bull (G3) unbeaten, but with just two sprint races versus lesser competition. Thus when the Florida-bred gelding met, and repulsed, a bid from champion Fierceness, fans could well have thought, “Who the heck is Hades?” (if you’ll pardon the veiled pun).

A similar question might be asked about his sire, Awesome Slew, who stands for just $4,000 at Ocala Stud. Yet as his name implies, Awesome Slew has some potent pedigree power behind him, and the Live Oak homebred bankrolled more than $1.2 million on the track.

Hades also has high-profile bloodlines on his maternal side, suggesting that his road to the Kentucky Derby (G1) is paved with more than merely good intentions.

Hades upsets in the Holy Bull (GIII): 1/5 favorite Fierceness finishes third.#KYDerby150 🌹 https://t.co/WxIT0JA8dp

— TwinSpires Racing 🏇 (@TwinSpires) February 4, 2024

Here are 10 pedigree fun facts:

1. Sire Awesome Slew won or placed in 13 stakes, including a third in the Breeders’ Cup.

Awesome Slew’s signature wins came in the 2016 Smarty Jones (G3) at Parx (not the Derby prep at Oaklawn Park) as well as the 2017 Commonwealth (G3) and Ack Ack (G3), but he wasn’t far off the top level going seven furlongs or a mile. Missing narrowly in back-to-back runnings of the Churchill Downs (G2) on Kentucky Derby Day, Awesome Slew finished second in the 2017 Forego (G1) (to champion Drefong) and third in that fall’s Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1). He added a runner-up effort in the 2018 Carter H. (G1).

When taking another crack at the Forego in 2018, Awesome Slew was a subpar seventh behind champion Whitmore and City of Light — the sire of Fierceness. You might say that Hades gained revenge for his sire by toppling Fierceness.

2. Awesome Slew is by Awesome Again and out of a granddaughter of Seattle Slew.

You don’t have to decipher the origin of Awesome Slew’s name: his sire is Awesome Again, who turned out to be exactly that, and his dam (mother) is a granddaughter of 1977 Triple Crown legend Seattle Slew.

Awesome Again won one of the greatest-ever renewals of the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) in 1998, bursting through late to beat Derby-winning Hall of Famer Silver Charm and Godolphin’s globetrotter Swain, among others. That Classic capped a perfect 6-for-6 campaign for Awesome Again, including the Whitney (G1) and Stephen Foster H. (G2). During his preceding three-year-old season, he captured Canada’s prestigious Queen’s Plate straight off a maiden score.

From the male line of Northern Dancer, via Deputy Minister, Awesome Again ranks as an influential sire. His Hall of Fame son Ghostzapper romped in the 2004 Breeders’ Cup Classic in record time (and became the maternal grandfather of Triple Crown star Justify). Awesome Again has sired one winner apiece of the Preakness (G1) and Belmont (G1) (Oxbow in 2013 and Sir Winston in 2019, respectively) along with fellow Breeders’ Cup scorers Ginger Punch, Round Pond, and Wilko.

3. Awesome Slew’s dam, Slewfoundmoney, is by the same sire as Dubai Millennium.

Slewfoundmoney is by Seeking the Gold, a blueblood son of Mr. Prospector. Although he won the 1988 Dwyer (G1) and Super Derby (G1), Seeking the Gold’s most memorable performances came in defeat. He was outdueled by Forty Niner in both the Haskell (G1) and Travers (G1), came up shy of Hall of Famer Alysheba in that year’s Breeders’ Cup Classic, and lost the photo in the 1989 Metropolitan H. (G1).

Seeking the Gold achieved the top rank as a stallion, however, by siring Dubai Millennium, who was sublime on the European turf as well as in the 2000 Dubai World Cup (G1) on dirt. Seeking the Gold’s stateside standouts include Hall of Famer Heavenly Prize.

Slewfoundmoney wasn’t among her sire’s top-tier performers, but she did win two minor stakes and placed in the 2008 Top Flight H. (G2) and 2009 First Lady H. (G3).

4. Slewfoundmoney’s dam, Borodislew, beat Lakeway and Jewel Princess.

Borodislew’s cosmopolitan pedigree portended her own racing career. The daughter of Seattle Slew is out of multiple French Group 3 winner Breath Taking, whose parents in turn are European turf star Nureyev and Australian import Cap D’Antibes.

Borodislew began her career in France, where her highlight was a dead-heat victory in the 1993 Prix de la Porte Maillot (G3). Transferred to Southern California, she added six more stakes victories on the dirt. Chief among them were the 1995 Chula Vista H. (G2), upsetting the celebrated Lakeway, and the 1996 Hawthorne H. (G2), denying champion Jewel Princess.

5. Hades, like Fierceness, is a grandson of Quality Road.

Hades is out of The Shady Lady, a daughter of Quality Road, who’s also prominent in the pedigree of Fierceness. Quality Road appears as his paternal grandsire, though, as the sire of City of Light.

The Shady Lady never raced herself, but she’s becoming a reliable producer. All four of her racing age foals have won, and the past two are now stakes winners. Her first stakes scorer was 2022 Astoria S. romper Devious Dame, who won her first two starts by a combined margin of more than 11 lengths.

Although Quality Road’s oldest daughters are still relatively young broodmares, he’s already making an impact in that department. Other notable performers out of Quality Road mares include reigning Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1) heroine Hard to Justify; Valiant Force, who stunned Royal Ascot’s Norfolk (G2) and just missed in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G1); and Stretch Ride, third in last fall’s Kentucky Jockey Club (G2).

6. The Shady Lady’s dam is by the same sire as Big Brown.

The Shady Lady is out of Lady Discreet, a mare by the Danzig stallion Boundary. While a sprinter himself, Boundary is best known for siring 2008 Kentucky Derby and Preakness dazzler Big Brown.

Big Brown returned to the Derby headlines in 2023 when his grandson Mage upset the Run for the Roses. Now Mage’s brother, Dornoch, is on the 2024 trail; they are out of Big Brown’s stakes-winning daughter Puca.

7. Lady Discreet is inbred to Hall of Famer Damascus.

Lady Discreet has a further pedigree angle in common with Big Brown: both are inbred to Hall of Famer Damascus, the beaten favorite in the 1967 Derby who won the Preakness and Belmont. Damascus boasts many other laurels on his resume, including the Travers and an epic Woodward over fellow greats Buckpasser and Dr. Fager.

Big Brown and Lady Discreet get one cross of Damascus through their sire Boundary and another from their female line. In Lady Discreet’s case, her second cross comes courtesy of her dam, Pretty Discreet, who is by the Damascus stallion Private Account — the sire of unbeaten Hall of Famer Personal Ensign as well as Inside Information.

8. Pretty Discreet, upset winner of the Alabama, produced Discreet Cat.

Pretty Discreet, who took minor awards in the 1994 Matron (G1) and Frizette (G1), stunned the 1995 Alabama (G1) at odds of 42-1. Going straight to the lead at a sloppy Saratoga, she strolled by eight lengths, and never won again.

But Pretty Discreet secured her legacy as a broodmare. She’s produced two Grade 1 winners in Discreet Cat and Discreetly Mine. Discreet Cat reeled off a six-race winning streak at the beginning of his career, including the UAE Derby (G2) and Cigar Mile (G1).

Discreetly Mine made noise on the Derby trail, winning the 2010 Risen Star (G2) and finishing fourth in the Louisiana Derby (G2), before winding up 13th in the Run for the Roses. Rebounding when turning back to sprints, Discreetly Mine ended his career with a three-race skein crowned by the King’s Bishop (now the H. Allen Jerkens Memorial) (G1).

Pretty Discreet is also the ancestress of another Grade 1 vixen, Awesome Maria, as well as of Canadian champion Cairo Consort.

9. Hades descends from a sister to a Kentucky Oaks winner, by a rival of Affirmed and Alydar.

Pretty Discreet’s dam, Pretty Persuasive, is a full sister to Buryyourbelief, who posted a career-best effort to win the 1987 Kentucky Oaks (G1). She had placed second in a trio of Oaks preps, coming nearest when missing by a neck in the Ashland (G1).

Pretty Persuasive and Buryyourbelief’s sire, Believe It, is the answer to a trivia question: who was third to Affirmed and Alydar in the 1978 Kentucky Derby and Preakness? Believe It was also second to Alydar a few times, notably in the Florida Derby (G1), but he did manage to beat Alydar in the 1977 Remsen (G2).

10. Further back, this is the family responsible for Touch Gold.

Pretty Persuasive is out of Bury the Hatchet, a daughter of Tom Rolfe, who captured the 1965 Preakness en route to champion three-year-old colt honors. By the immortal *Ribot, Tom Rolfe is a significant sire himself, especially through his brilliant son Hoist the Flag.

Bury the Hatchet’s dam, the Northern Dancer mare Christmas Wishes, is a full sister to 1969 Canadian Oaks winner Cool Mood. Even more prolific are Cool Mood’s descendants, including Canadian Triple Crown winners With Approval (1989) and Izvestia (1990) along with 1997 Belmont winner Touch Gold.