Pedigree fun facts: 2025 Preakness Stakes

May 16, 2025 Kellie Reilly/Brisnet.com

Curlin edging Street Sense in the 2007 Preakness

Curlin edging Street Sense in the 2007 Preakness (Photo by Horsephotos.com)

Hall of Famer Curlin would achieve another historic milestone as a stallion if his son Journalism prevails in Saturday’s $2 million Preakness (G1).

Curlin, hero of the 2007 Preakness, is the most recent winner of the middle jewel to sire one – Exaggerator (2016). Like Journalism, Exaggerator was coming off a runner-up effort in the Kentucky Derby (G1). Journalism has another Preakness champion close up in his ancestry: his mother Mopotism, a Grade 2-winning daughter of Uncle Mo, is out of a mare by Bernardini (2006).

Although nine previous father-son tandems have captured Pimlico’s classic race, no Preakness winner has sired more than one victorious son. Curlin would become the first Preakness winner responsible for two heirs to his trophy.

The honor roll of Preakness-winning sires and sons includes several of the sport’s all-time greats.

The legendary Man o’ War (1920) was succeeded by his son War Admiral (1937), who swept the Triple Crown, which his sire did not attempt (Man o’ War skipped the Derby). Gallant Fox (1930) and Omaha (1935) remain the only father-and-son Triple Crown winners.

Assault, the 1946 Triple Crown victor, was by 1936 Derby and Preakness scorer Bold Venture, who sustained a career-ending injury before he ever had his chance in the Belmont S (G1). The conqueror of the 1948 Triple Crown, Citation, sired 1956 Preakness winner Fabius.

The peerless Secretariat (1973), who set records that still stand in all three Triple Crown races, is the central link in three generations of Preakness stars. His sire Bold Ruler (1957) belonged to perhaps the deepest classic crop in U.S. history. Secretariat, in turn, sired Risen Star (1988), arguably unlucky not to win the Triple Crown himself thanks to a troubled third in the Derby.

Secretariat left a profound legacy on the breed through his daughters. Indeed, he counts as a distant ancestor in the pedigrees of every 2025 Preakness entrant.

There was precedent for a three-generation sequence of Preakness winners. Polynesian (1945) sired Hall of Famer Native Dancer (1953), whose only career loss was a tough-trip second in the Derby. Native Dancer’s son Kauai King turned the Derby/Preakness double in 1966.

But Native Dancer left a lasting influence on modern pedigrees through another son, Raise a Native (progenitor of Curlin’s sire line), and through daughter Natalma (the mother of breed-shaper Northern Dancer). Raise a Native and Northern Dancer are the repetitive building blocks in the pedigree architecture of all the 2025 Preakness runners.

The male line of Northern Dancer, the 1964 Derby and Preakness winner, has itself furnished a father-son tandem in the Preakness. Summer Squall (1990) sired Charismatic, who won the first two jewels of the Triple Crown in 1999.

While Curlin is the latest member of the Preakness winners-as-sires club, Triple Crown champions American Pharoah (2015) and Justify (2018) both have chances to expand the club on Saturday.

Justify’s son, American Promise, bids to turn the page on his 16th-place finish in the Kentucky Derby. Note that Justify’s sire, Scat Daddy, also appears as the maternal grandfather of British shipper Heart of Honor. By Honor A. P., himself a son of champion Honor Code (by A. P. Indy), Heart of Honor is out of the Scat Daddy mare Ruby Love, a Group 1 winner in her native Chile.

American Pharoah sends out a “new shooter” in Clever Again. Interestingly, the up-and-coming colt has European classic connections on his mother’s side. He’s out of Group 3 vixen Flattering, a full sister to five-time Group 1 heroine Love, whose signature wins include the 1000 Guineas (G1) and Epsom Oaks (G1) in 2020. Flattering and Love are by supersire Galileo.

Another classic newcomer, Gosger, will try to win the Preakness that eluded his sire, 2016 Derby champ Nyquist. Unbeaten going into the middle jewel, Nyquist sustained his first loss when third to familiar foe Exaggerator.

Gosger is out of a half-sister to I’ll Have Another, the 2012 Derby and Preakness victor, who retired due to injury on the eve of the Belmont. Gosger’s mother, the Tapit mare Gloria S, also produced Grade 1 winner Harvey’s Lil Goil, the close third-placer in the 2020 Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1).

The terrific Tapit factors in one-third of the Preakness field. Aside from his role as maternal grandfather of Gosger and American Promise, he is the sire of Sandman. Tapit has sired a record-tying four Belmont winners, but he has yet to have success in the Derby or Preakness. Sandman hopes to change that stat. He’s out of a mare by the influential Distorted Humor, sire of 2003 Derby/Preakness champ Funny Cide.

Distorted Humor also turns up as the paternal grandsire of River Thames. His sire, Maclean’s Music, already has a Preakness winner to his credit in Cloud Computing (2017). Thus, Maclean’s Music is the only other stallion in this field, besides Curlin, to rank on the Preakness sires’ roster.

Goal Oriented is by the same sire as champion Epicenter, runner-up as the favorite in the Derby and Preakness in 2022. They are sons of Not This Time, himself, by the “Iron Horse” Giant’s Causeway.

Goal Oriented’s maternal grandfather is 2005 Preakness romper Afleet Alex, who averted catastrophe when clipping heels turning into the stretch. Goal Oriented is out of Grade 3 queen Bizzy Caroline, a half-sister to brilliant turf champion Lady Eli.

Pay Billy is a son of Improbable, the beaten favorite in both the Derby and Preakness in 2019. Promoted to fourth via disqualification at Churchill Downs, Improbable wound up sixth at Pimlico. But he went on to become the champion older dirt male of 2020.

Pay Billy’s mother, Harlington’s Rose, is a Grade 3-winning sprinter. Yet her sire, Harlington, was a stout son of 1990 Derby champion (and Preakness runner-up) Unbridled and Hall of Fame racemare Serena’s Song.

Nearly half of the field (four of nine entrants) represents the Raise a Native/Mr. Prospector sire line – Journalism, Clever Again, River Thames, and Pay Billy.

Two hail from the male line of 1977 Triple Crown hero Seattle Slew via A.P. Indy, Sandman, and Heart of Honor. Another pair are scions of Northern Dancer by way of his Storm Cat branch, American Promise and Goal Oriented. Gosger traces to the Caro line via his descendant Indian Charlie, sire of Uncle Mo.

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