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Pedigree fun facts: 2025 Kentucky Derby

May 02, 2025 Kellie Reilly/Brisnet.com

Baeza trains for the Kentucky Derby

Baeza, the half-brother to 2023 Kentucky Derby hero Mage, goes for history beneath the Twin Spires (Photo by Coady Media)

The 151st Kentucky Derby (G1) showcases regal pedigrees, several of potentially history-making significance.

Among the fascinating angles are the match-ups between sires. Triple Crown winners American Pharoah and Justify are both represented. And it’s a battle for family bragging rights between half-brothers Liam’s Map and Not This Time, who each have sons in the field.

Speaking of half-brothers, Baeza is a half-brother to 2023 Derby upsetter Mage. He could make history for their mother, Puca, who hopes to become the first mare to produce two Kentucky Derby winners.

Perennial leading sire Into Mischief bids for a record-tying third Derby winner, courtesy of champion Citizen Bull or Sovereignty. Hall of Famer Curlin has a pre-eminent chance of scoring his first Derby victory as a sire, through favored Journalism.

Let’s explore the most interesting dimensions of the 2025 Derby pedigrees!

American Pharoah versus Justify

Justify was born in 2015, the year that American Pharoah ended the 37-year Triple Crown drought dating back to Affirmed (1978). Only the most optimistic might have imagined that we’d celebrate another Triple Crown three years later, when Justify swept the Derby, Preakness (G1), and Belmont (G1).

Both have become important international sires standing at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud, and they are competing to join an exclusive club of Triple Crown champions to sire a Derby winner. Justify relies on American Promise, while American Pharoah is double-handed in his quest – Japan Road invitee Luxor Cafe and the maiden, Publisher.

Luxor Cafe, a Kentucky-bred who was foaled and raised at Ashford, is a full brother to Japanese champion dirt horse Cafe Pharoah and a half-brother to U.S. champion turf female Regal Glory. Publisher is out of a mare by 2002 Derby runner-up Proud Citizen, and his grandmother is by Indian Charlie, third as the 1998 Derby favorite.

Since Gallant Fox (1930) sired fellow Triple Crown winner Omaha (1935), just Count Fleet (1943) and Seattle Slew (1977) have had a son succeed them on the Derby honor roll. Count Fleet was responsible for Count Turf (1951), and Seattle Slew gave us Swale (1984).

A dozen Derby heroes have sired the winners of America’s most famous race, but none since the father-and-son duo of Unbridled (1990) and Grindstone (1996). American Pharoah or Justify would make it 13.

Into Mischief on the cusp of a historic rarity

Into Mischief is the 16th sire to furnish two Derby heroes, although both came in anomalous circumstances. Authentic (2020) captured the pandemic-postponed Run for the Roses, and Mandaloun (2021) was elevated via disqualification. (Authentic himself had a son in the 2025 Derby field, Rodriguez, but he was unfortunately scratched.)

If Sovereignty or Citizen Bull can score on the first Saturday in May, Into Mischief would tie the record for most Derby winners as a sire. You have to go back to the mid-20th century to find the most recent stallion to rack up a hat trick – the legendary Bull Lea of Calumet Farm, sire of Triple Crown star Citation (1948), Hill Gail (1952), and Iron Liege (1957). Not long before, *Sir Gallahad III, sire of Gallant Fox, followed up with Gallahadion (1940) and Hoop Jr. (1945).

The first sires to record a Derby triple came early in the race’s history. Virgil got Vagrant (1876), Hindoo (1881), and Ben Ali (1886), echoed in short order by Falsetto’s trio of Chant (1894), His Eminence (1901), and Sir Huon (1906).

Curlin bids to complete Triple Crown as sire

Curlin was a warrior throughout the 2007 Triple Crown, placing third in the Derby, winning the Preakness, and just missing to filly Rags to Riches in the Belmont.

It is no surprise that Curlin has impacted the classics at stud. He has sired a fellow Preakness winner (Exaggerator in 2016) and a Belmont hero (Palace Malice in 2013), and now just needs a Derby victor to complete his set of Triple Crown trophies as a sire. Journalism is arguably his best chance so far. His lightly-raced Grande would have been a sneaky contender, until he scratched Friday morning.

But Curlin has been knocking on the door, and two of his sons have already sired Derby winners. Rich Strike, by the Curlin stallion Keen Ice, drew in from the also-eligible list to pull an 80-1 shocker in 2022. (Ironically, Keen Ice was best known for a monumental upset himself – flooring American Pharoah in the Travers [G1]). Curlin’s champion son, Good Magic, runner-up in Justify’s Derby, gained compensation by siring Mage in his very first crop.

Mage’s half-brother Baeza to rewrite the record book?

There’s never been a successful sibling act in Derby history, so it would be an unprecedented stroke if Baeza can emulate his half-brother Mage at Churchill Downs.

At this time last year, Mage’s full brother, Dornoch, was also attempting the Derby, only to be thwarted by a troubled trip on the rail. Dornoch rebounded in the Belmont, a rare feat in itself for full siblings to win classic races.

If Baeza rewrites the record book in the Derby, mom Puca would be responsible for an amazing three classic winners. She is herself a daughter of 2008 Derby and Preakness conqueror Big Brown. Baeza has a further Derby connection through his own sire, McKinzie, who is by 2007 Derby champion Street Sense. Thus, both of Baeza’s grandsires wore the roses!

Perhaps fortune is smiling on Baeza. He was initially entered as an also-eligible, needing a defection to draw in, and the scratch of Rodriguez opened up a spot in the starting gate for him.

Brother against brother

Liam’s Map and his younger half-brother, Not This Time, were both accomplished performers on the racetrack for their prolific mother, Miss Macy Sue. (See more on their different sire lines below.)

Not This Time has been red-hot as a stallion too, coming close to siring a Derby winner when his champion son Epicenter was just toppled (by Rich Strike) as the favorite in 2022. Now he sends out Final Gambit, who aims to go one better. Liam’s Map is a successful sire himself, and he has an even higher-profile contender in Burnham Square.

Tapit galore

The great patriarch Tapit’s influence is noticeable in several contenders. His son Sandman will try to give him his first Derby coup, after siring a record-tying four Belmont winners. Might it help that Sandman is inbred to 1990 Derby champion Unbridled? Tapit is out of an Unbridled mare, and Unbridled’s Song appears in Sandman’s maternal ancestry.

Tapit is prominent on both sides of the pedigree of Tiztastic, who is closely inbred to him. Not only is Tiztastic out of a mare by Tapit, but his own sire, Tiz the Law, the 2020 Derby runner-up, is himself by the Tapit stallion Constitution.

Tapit also shows up as the maternal grandfather of Final Gambit and American Promise. Moreover, East Avenue’s maternal grandmother is by Tapit.

Medaglia d’Oro, McKinzie go for Oaks/Derby double

East Avenue’s sire, Medaglia d’Oro, has the heavy favorite in Friday’s Kentucky Oaks (G1), undefeated Good Cheer. Another Medaglia d’Oro filly, Ballerina d’Oro, could be sitting on a big race in the Oaks herself.

McKinzie has done well as a first-crop sire, just to have the possibility of an Oaks/Derby double. His daughter Quickick will try to outperform her odds in the Oaks before Baeza goes to bat in the Derby.

Northern Dancer’s sire line most represented

Eight of the 19 runners remaining in the field (at this writing) descend from the sire line of breed-shaper Northern Dancer, the 1964 Derby and Preakness champion. The Mr. Prospector male line comes next with six representatives.

Nearly all of Northern Dancer’s scions hail from the Storm Cat branch of his line. The lone exception is East Avenue, whose sire Medaglia d’Oro is a grandson of European supersire Sadler’s Wells.

Of the seven from Storm Cat’s tribe, Into Mischief is responsible for two (Sovereignty and Citizen Bull), and Into Mischief’s own late sire, Harlan’s Holiday, is the paternal grandsire of Neoequos (by Neolithic).

The others trace to different vectors of Storm Cat. American Promise’s sire Justify goes back to Hennessy via Johannesburg and Scat Daddy; Final Gambit’s sire Not This Time is by Giant’s Causeway; Flying Mohawk’s sire Karakontie is by Bernstein; and Admire Daytona’s sire Drefong is by Tale of the Cat’s three-time Eclipse Award champion Gio Ponti.

Of the six Mr. Prospectors, half belong to the Fappiano branch via his Derby-winning son Unbridled, including American Pharoah’s duo of Luxor Cafe and Publisher. Burnham Square’s sire, Liam’s Map, is a son of Unbridled’s Song.

The other three descend from different sons of “Mr. P.” Journalism’s sire Curlin is by Smart Strike. Baeza’s paternal grandsire, Street Sense, by Street Cry (famed as the sire of Zenyatta and Winx), goes back to the European-based Machiavellian. Owen Almighty’s sire, Speightstown, is a son of Gone West.

Three Derby entrants come from the sire line of 1977 Triple Crown legend Seattle Slew, all by way of his Hall of Fame son A.P. Indy. Tapit plays the major role these days in furthering the line, as described above with Sandman and Tiztastic.

Interestingly, Coal Battle has a grand total of six crosses of “Slew” in his pedigree, but none from Tapit. He belongs to the A.P. Indy tribe by way of Bernardini, Coal Battle’s great-grandsire. Coal Battle’s sire, Coal Front, is inbred to A.P. Indy, and he receives a third cross of Slew from a mare. Coal Battle’s mother inherits her three strains of Slew from his sons, Avenue of Flags and champion Capote, along with his 1990 Kentucky Oaks victress Seaside Attraction.

Finally, two contenders uphold Roberto's sire line, which came up with a memorable Derby winner in Barbaro (2006). While Barbaro was by Dynaformer, another Roberto stallion, Kris S, is the male-line ancestor of Chunk of Gold and Render Judgment. Both are by sons of Arch. Chunk of Gold is by Preservationist, and Render Judgment is by Blame, who denied Zenyatta in the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) right here at Churchill Downs.

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