10 Pedigree fun facts: Slow Down Andy

Jan 24, 2022 Kellie Reilly/Brisnet.com

As a son of 2016 Kentucky Derby (G1) champion Nyquist, Slow Down Andy could put his sire into an exclusive club. Over the history of the Run for the Roses, only 12 Derby winners have gone on to sire Derby winners. The most recent father and son tandem was Unbridled (1990) and Grindstone (1996).

2. Nyquist’s sire and paternal grandsire were both foiled, in different ways, as onetime Derby favorites. He is from the first crop of Uncle Mo, himself an undefeated champion two-year-old who captured the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Uncle Mo’s hopes were dashed by illness, however, and he ended up scratching from the 2011 Derby. His own sire, Indian Charlie, entered the 1998 Derby as the unbeaten Santa Anita Derby (G1) hero, only to finish third to stablemate Real Quiet in what turned out to be his final start.

3. Nyquist descends from the male line of Caro, the sire of Winning Colors, who in 1988 made history as just the third filly to win the Kentucky Derby. Caro, a European import, had success at stud on both sides of the Atlantic. His French classic-winning colt Siberian Express sired In Excess, an Irish-bred who became an American dirt star in 1991, and transmitted his brilliance to son Indian Charlie.

4. Slow Down Andy is out of Edwina E, a daughter of another Reddam headliner in Square Eddie. Although a Canadian-bred, Square Eddie started his racing career in England, where Reddam acquired him as a promising prospect. He paid quick dividends when dominating the 2008 Breeders’ Futurity (G1) in his U.S. debut and placing second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Knocked off the Derby trail by a setback, Square Eddie did not reach those heights again, but did set a Santa Anita track record in a remarkable comeback at the age of five.

5. Square Eddie is by the influential Smart Strike, yet another son of the patriarch Mr. Prospector. Smart Strike’s champions include Hall of Famer Curlin and two-time Eclipse Award winner Lookin at Lucky, who both moved forward from Derby losses to take the Preakness (G1). 

7. Slow Down Andy’s third dam, Electric Fable, is closely related to Bernardini’s dam, Grade 1 heroine Cara Rafaela. Electric Fable and Cara Rafaela are both by Quiet American, best known as the sire of 1998 Triple Crown near-misser Real Quiet. While Electric Fable is out of Northern Fable, a Grade 3-winning mare by supersire Northern Dancer, Cara Rafaela is out of another daughter of Northern Fable, Oil Fable. Cara Rafaela earned $884,452 by capturing the 1995 Hollywood Starlet (G1) and placing in such major events as the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) and Kentucky Oaks (G1). She was honored as Broodmare of the Year after 2006 Preakness and Travers (G1) hero Bernardini’s championship campaign.

8. Northern Fable is herself related to White Star Line and Northern Trick. Also sired by Northern Dancer from the same immediate family, both were outstanding fillies on the racecourse who became successful broodmares. White Star Line scored in the 1978 Kentucky Oaks, Delaware Oaks (G1), and Alabama (G1), while Northern Trick ranked as France’s champion three-year-old filly after landing the 1984 French Oaks (G1) and Prix Vermeille (G1) and finishing second in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (G1).

9. Slow Down Andy traces to the family labeled 4-m, which has produced five Kentucky Derby winners spanning a century – Day Star (1878), Lawrin (1938), Middleground (1950), Venetian Way (1960), and Sunny’s Halo (1983). The last four descend from the great matron Maggie B B (foaled 1867). Interestingly, Slow Down Andy comes from the same line as Day Star, who shares a nearby ancestress with Maggie B B. 

10. That common ancestress is Magnolia, an historically significant broodmare for Kentucky statesman Henry Clay. A gift to Clay from Dr. William Mercer of New Orleans, Magnolia was the offspring of British imports. Sire *Glencoe, who won the 2000 Guineas in 1834 and the following year’s Gold Cup at Royal Ascot, became an essential building block in pedigrees. Magnolia’s dam, *Myrtle, was a daughter of 1827 Epsom Derby winner Mameluke and Bobadilla, herself the Gold Cup heroine of 1828.