Pedigree fun facts: Bashford Manor

While the 2020 Kentucky Derby (G1) is still more than two months away, it’s never too early to start following the class of 2021. The first graded stakes of the year for juveniles is Saturday’s $100,000 Bashford Manor (G3) at Churchill Downs, featuring seven debut winners.

Although the 6-furlong dash has its share of speedy pedigrees, a few have routing potential. The most recent Bashford Manor winner to go on to much better things, Classic Empire (2016), became the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) champion and a prominent contender on the 2017 Triple Crown trail. Might one of Saturday’s hopefuls follow in his hoofsteps?

Cazadero, the 8-5 favorite after an 8 3/4-length romp over the track, is by 2006 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile/2007 Kentucky Derby star Street Sense. The Stonestreet Stables homebred is out of millionaire sprinter Wild Gams, a multiple Grade 3-winning daughter of Forest Wildcat. Time will tell if he’s more in the mold of his dam. 

The topically named Herd Immunity is a son of Union Rags, the 2012 Belmont (G1) victor. Peter Miller’s Santa Anita maiden winner was produced by the Malibu Moon mare Enhanced, who is a full sister to 2012 Tampa Bay Derby (G2) scorer and Kentucky Derby also-ran Prospective. Interestingly, Herd Immunity is inbred to the Seattle Slew stallion Capote, the 1986 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner and champion 2-year-old colt. 

County Final, who premiered in a Churchill turf sprint, is by 2013 Preakness (G1) hero Oxbow. His multiple stakes-winning dam, Tapajo, is a daughter of leading sire Tapit.

Tapit’s up-and-coming son Constitution, sire of recent Belmont conqueror and Kentucky Derby favorite Tiz the Law, has Hyperfocus in the Bashford Manor. Todd Pletcher’s Gulfstream Park winner is the first foal from Discreet Meating, by one of Sunday Silence’s champion sons, Hat Trick. Discreet Meating is a half-sister to Argentinean champion 2-year-old filly Forty Greeta and Grade 2-winning sprinter Honorable Dillon (by Tapit).

Another Tapit stallion, Tapiture, is responsible for Hulen. A Churchill winner like stablemate Cazadero, the Steve Asmussen pupil is out of Clamorous Clarissa, who is a full sister to Texas-bred stakes winners Big Texas Daddy, Namesake, and Thievery. Asmussen trained them all, as well as their sire Valid Expectations and Hulen’s sire Tapiture. To keep the family theme, Hulen was bred in the Lone Star State by the Hall of Fame trainer’s dad, Keith. 

Tapit’s male-line ancestor, Hall of Famer A.P. Indy, factors prominently in the pedigree of Gatsby. Both his sire and dam are out of A.P. Indy mares. Gatsby is by Brethren, a Distorted Humor half-brother to 2010 Kentucky Derby victor Super Saver. Gatsby’s dam, Star Recruit by champion sprinter Aldebaran, is a half-sister to Grade 3 winner Z Humor (by Distorted Humor). The Arindel homebred sports eye-catching form from his Gulfstream maiden, upending Golden Pal who went on to miss narrowly in the Norfolk (G2) at Royal Ascot.

Crown and Coke, a 13-length romper at Mountaineer, has a pedigree pattern you don’t see very often – a duplication of the Bold Ruler stallion Raja Baba. He descends from that sire line, via Raja Baba’s son Is It True (best known for upsetting Easy Goer in the 1988 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Churchill). Is It True sired Grade 1 winner Yes It’s True, the 1998 Bashford Manor runner-up and himself the sire of Aikenite, whose richest win came here in the 2011 Churchill Downs S. (G2). Aikenite sired Crown and Coke from the mare Dotted Swiss. She’s by Swiss Yodeler, who is in turn out of a Raja Baba mare.