Pedigree fun facts: 2026 Preakness

May 14, 2026 Kellie Reilly/Brisnet.com

Talkin edges out Stradale at Saratoga.

Talkin wins on debut at Saratoga (Photo by Coglianese Photos)

Although Curlin’s Kentucky Derby (G1)-winning son, Golden Tempo, is not in Saturday’s Preakness (G1), the Hall of Famer and top sire still factors in the pedigrees of a trio of notable contenders.

Curlin, the 2007 Preakness hero, is the paternal grandsire of Talkin, Chip Honcho, and Ocelli.

Champion Uncle Mo also has three grandsons in the field. Iron Honor and Taj Mahal are both by Uncle Mo’s champion son Nyquist, while Great White is out of an Uncle Mo mare.

Talkin is by Good Magic, a champion son of Curlin, who finished a close fourth in the 2018 Preakness after challenging Triple Crown winner Justify early on. Good Magic has since extended Curlin’s classic legacy by siring 2023 Kentucky Derby victor Mage and his full brother, Dornoch, who upset the 2024 Belmont (G1). Good Magic almost had a Preakness winner in 2023, when his first-crop son Blazing Sevens just missed.

If Talkin can spring a surprise in the Preakness, he would put Good Magic in rare company as the sire of the winners of all three jewels. Curlin just achieved the feat himself, with Golden Tempo joining fellow Curlin sons Palace Malice (2013 Belmont), Exaggerator (2016 Preakness), and Journalism (2025 Preakness) to complete his set of classics as a sire.

Talkin has other Preakness connections on his mother’s side. He is out of a mare by Tiznow, who also appears as the maternal grandfather of 2022 Preakness scorer Early Voting. Talkin’s female line belongs to the family labeled 2-n, sharing the same remote ancestress as 1903 Preakness heroine Whimsical as well as 2001 Preakness-winning Hall of Famer Point Given.

Chip Honcho and Ocelli are both by another son of Curlin, Connect. While Connect’s signature win came in the 2016 Cigar Mile (G1), he’s arguably better remembered for holding off Gun Runner in the Pennsylvania Derby (G2).

Chip Honcho’s mother is by Magician, an Irish classic winner by supersire Galileo. Trained by the legendary Aidan O’Brien, Magician took his game stateside to capture the 2013 Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1).

Ocelli is out of a mare by Scat Daddy, best known in the U.S. as the sire of Justify, but a stallion of international import. Ocelli’s maternal line hails from family number 13, the same tap-root mare responsible for 1922 Preakness winner Pillory.

Scat Daddy is also the maternal grandfather of Napoleon Solo, whose mother traces to the 2-s family that gave us 1973 Triple Crown record-setter Secretariat. Like Secretariat and 1976 Preakness scorer Elocutionist, Napoleon Solo is a direct matrilineal descendant of British-bred classic victress *Cinq a Sept.

Napoleon Solo’s sire, Liam’s Map, starred in the 2015 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1). A gray like his own sire, Unbridled’s Song, Liam’s Map is a half-brother to world-class stallion Not This Time.

Another son of Liam’s Map, Beau Liam, is himself the sire of Pretty Boy Miah. Out of a mare by 2003 Horse of the Year Mineshaft, Pretty Boy Miah descends from the family dubbed 10-c that’s responsible for 1910 Preakness winner Don Enrique.

Bolt d’Oro, who crossed swords with Good Magic and Justify in his racing career, is doubly represented in the Preakness. He’s the sire of Incredibolt and Corona de Oro, as hinted by their names. Both are out of mares by stallions accomplished on the racetrack and at stud.

Incredibolt’s mother is by Canadian Hall of Famer Awesome Again, conqueror of an exceptional 1998 Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) at Churchill Downs, and sire of 2013 Preakness victor Oxbow. Corona de Oro’s mother is by champion Lemon Drop Kid, who turned the Belmont/Travers (G1) double in 1999.

Incredibolt comes from the 3-l family that’s produced four Preakness heroes – 1948 Triple Crown legend Citation, Gate Dancer (1984), Summer Squall (1990), and Silver Charm (1997). Like Summer Squall, Incredibolt descends from the prolific mare Lassie Dear, who is also the grandmother of Hall of Famer and outstanding sire A.P. Indy.

Interestingly, Incredibolt is inbred to A.P. Indy and Lassie Dear, with an extra cross of A.P. Indy’s sire, 1977 Triple Crown champion Seattle Slew. Corona de Oro sports a similar inbreeding pattern – his pedigree doubles down on Seattle Slew and Lassie Dear.

Bolt d’Oro is by Medaglia d’Oro, sire of 2009 Preakness queen and Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra. Medaglia d’Oro’s sire line also has Great White in the Preakness. Great White is by Volatile, a paternal grandson of Medaglia d’Oro.

Because Great White is out of an Uncle Mo mare, he’s bred on a cross reminiscent of 2024 Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna. Uncle Mo likewise factors as the maternal grandfather of last year’s Preakness star, Journalism. Great White’s female line was cultivated in Brazil, but tracing the maternal ancestry much further back to Great Britain, he has an ancestress in common with 2019 Preakness scorer War of Will as a member of the 8-f family.

The two Nyquist colts, Iron Honor and Taj Mahal, hope to avenge their sire in the middle jewel.  Just the second horse ever to win both the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) and the Kentucky Derby. Nyquist was sent off as the 7-10 favorite in the 2016 Preakness. But he wound up third to familiar foe Exaggerator (by Curlin), and he later concluded his career with a sixth in the Pennsylvania Derby behind Connect. It’s ironic that Connect and Nyquist are renewing rivalry, if vicariously, through their sons here, as are Good Magic and Bolt d’Oro.

Taj Mahal is out of a mare by Quality Road, sire of 2023 Preakness victor National Treasure. Iron Honor’s mother is by champion Blame, forever known for thwarting Zenyatta in the 2010 Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Blame is also the maternal grandfather of Bull by the Horns, who comes from the same number 26 family as Oxbow. Bull by the Horns is from the first crop of two-time champion Essential Quality, the only horse to capture both the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (2020) and the Belmont (2021).

Perennial leading sire Into Mischief has two grandsons in the field, one apiece of the paternal (The Hell We Did) and maternal (Robusta) variety.

The Hell We Did is by Into Mischief’s first Kentucky Derby-winning son, Authentic. The winner of the pandemic-delayed 2020 Derby, Authentic missed by a neck to champion filly Swiss Skydiver in that fall’s Preakness. He rebounded in the Breeders’ Cup Classic to reign as Horse of the Year.

The Hell We Did’s connections, the Peacock family and trainer Todd Fincher, also raced his mother and his half-siblings, chief among them Senor Buscador. The Hell We Did is out of their multiple stakes-winning New Mexico homebred Rose’s Desert. She’s by the well-bred but unraced Desert God, also the sire of New Mexico win machine Peppers Pride.

Rose’s Desert has been a prolific broodmare. She’s produced five stakes winners so far, and The Hell We Did hopes to become her sixth. Senor Buscador is her top performer, having upset the world’s richest race, the $20 million Saudi Cup (G1), in 2024.

The Hell We Did hails from the noted 23-b family, the maternal tribe of 1978 Triple Crown legend Affirmed and fellow Preakness winners Bryn Mawr (1904), Tim Tam (1958), and I’ll Have Another (2012).

Robusta is by 2018 Breeders’ Cup Classic champion Accelerate, himself a son of 2010 Preakness champion Lookin at Lucky. Like Curlin, Lookin at Lucky is by the terrific Mr. Prospector stallion Smart Strike.

Robusta’s mother is by Into Mischief and out of multiple Grade 1-winning millionaire Urbane. A Maryland-bred, Urbane raced just twice in her home state and won both – the 1995 Maryland Million Oaks and the 1996 Geisha H.

Crupper’s sire, unbeaten Argentine champion Candy Ride, remained perfect stateside and famously defeated Medaglia d’Oro in the 2003 Pacific Classic (G1). Two sons of Candy Ride have sired Preakness winners, Twirling Candy (Rombauer in 2021) and Gun Runner (Early Voting in 2022).

Crupper races for the same connections who campaigned his mother, Oklahoma-bred millionaire She’s All In. Likewise a Robert Zoellner homebred trained by Donnie Von Hemel, She’s All In captured the Oklahoma Classics Distaff for four consecutive years (2010-13). She proved herself well beyond the state-bred ranks, romping in the 2012 Sixty Sails H. (G3) and finishing second in the 2013 Delaware H. (G1)

Yet Maryland-breds are prominent in Crupper’s pedigree, in the form of maternal grandfather Include and his sire, Broad Brush. Both were homebreds for Robert E. Meyerhoff. Broad Brush, a four-time Grade 1 winner and earner of more than $2.6 million, placed third in both the Derby and Preakness in 1986. His son Include reached millionaire status as well, buoyed by his biggest victory in the 2001 Pimlico Special H. (G1)

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