Pedigree fun facts: Further Ado

Apr 24, 2026 Kellie Reilly/Brisnet.com

Further Ado is bred on a potent cross (Photo by Coady Media)

Hall of Famer Gun Runner came close to siring a Kentucky Derby (G1) winner in Sierra Leone, who missed by a nose in the epic three-way photo with upset winner Mystik Dan and Japanese star Forever Young in 2024.

Gun Runner’s current contender, Further Ado, sports a pedigree pattern very similar to Sierra Leone. Both are out of A.P. Indy-line mares.

Further Ado has an even closer tie to Sierra Leone through their respective breeders, the husband-and-wife team of John and Debby Oxley. Debby bred Sierra Leone, and John bred Further Ado.

Both colts descend from cherished racemares campaigned by the Oxleys. Sierra Leone is a grandson of Darling My Darling. Further Ado’s grandmother, To Dream About, is a daughter of two Oxley stars, Derby hero Monarchos and champion Beautiful Pleasure.

Here are Further Ado’s pedigree fun facts:

Gun Runner was third in the Derby before becoming Horse of the Year at four.

Gun Runner won the 2016 Risen Star (G2) and Louisiana Derby (G2), before finishing third to champion Nyquist in the Run for the Roses. He continued to run well throughout his three-year-old season, placing in the Travers (G1), Pennsylvania Derby (G2), and Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1).

But Gun Runner reached another level as an older horse. His Horse of the Year campaign in 2017, and career earnings of nearly $16 million, ultimately propelled him into the Hall of Fame.

After a runner-up effort to fellow Hall of Famer Arrogate in the Dubai World Cup (G1), Gun Runner never lost again. He rattled off five straight wins including the Stephen Foster (G1), Whitney (G1), Woodward (G1), Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1), and the 2018 Pegasus World Cup (G1) in his finale.

Further Ado romped over Gun Runner’s half-brother in the Blue Grass.

By undefeated Candy Ride, a champion in his native Argentina and a Del Mar track record-setter in the 2003 Pacific Classic (G1), Gun Runner is out of Grade 2 heroine Quiet Giant.

Quiet Giant has since produced two other stakes performers – Pretty Ana, the 2024 Comely (G3) winner, and current Triple Crown nominee Ottinho. On the Derby trail for a time himself, Ottinho was third in the Feb. 6 Withers S. and most recently a distant second to Further Ado in the Blue Grass (G1).

Ottinho and Pretty Ana count as half-siblings to Gun Runner because they share the same mother. Quiet Giant, a well-bred daughter of “Iron Horse” Giant’s Causeway, is herself a half-sister to 2005 Horse of the Year Saint Liam.

Gun Runner has sired several major winners out of A.P. Indy-line mares.

A direct male-line descendant of supersire Mr. Prospector, Gun Runner has already established himself as a top-tier stallion. He’s sired three champions – Sierra Leone, who clinched an Eclipse Award in the 2024 Breeders’ Cup Classic, along with Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) winners Echo Zulu (2021) and Super Corredora (2025). Gun Runner got a classic winner in his first crop, 2022 Preakness (G1) hero Early Voting.

Sierra Leone is out of a mare by A.P. Indy’s son Malibu Moon, as are multiple Grade 1 star Locked and Always a Runner, one of a handful of Gun Runner’s 2026 Kentucky Oaks (G1) hopefuls. Paladin, the erstwhile Derby favorite before he was sidelined in March, echoed the cross because his mother is by Tapit. Other major winners bred on the Gun Runner/Tapit cross include Society, Red Route One, Wicked Halo, and Disarm.

Further Ado’s maternal grandfather beat Funny Cide.

Further Ado is bred along a similar pattern. He’s out of a mare by Sky Mesa, who shares the same sire as Tapit. Both Sky Mesa and Tapit are by A.P. Indy’s son Pulpit, the fourth-placer in the 1997 Derby.

Sky Mesa sparked Derby dreams as an unbeaten two-year-old who captured the 2002 Hopeful (G1) at Saratoga and the Breeders’ Futurity (G2) at Keeneland. Unfortunately, injury knocked him off the Triple Crown trail. But during his brief campaign later that summer, Sky Mesa placed second in the Haskell (G1), beating Derby and Preakness star Funny Cide.

Sky Mesa’s mother beat males in a graded stakes at Belmont Park.

Sky Mesa was produced by Caress, a multiple Grade 3 winner on the turf. She defeated males, notably Irish classic winner Fourstars Allstar, in the 1995 Poker (G3). In her prior start, she romped in the Just a Game S. in then-record time for a mile on Belmont Park’s Widener turf course.

Caress is a full sister to Bernstein, famous for siring Hall of Famer Tepin. An influential broodmare herself, Caress is the ancestress of $2 million-earner Maxfield, sire of Derby contender Danon Bourbon.

Further Ado is inbred to Storm Cat.

Supersire Storm Cat appears twice within Further Ado’s four-generation pedigree. He factors on Gun Runner’s side as the sire of Giant’s Causeway, and again as the sire of Caress.

Further Ado’s half-brother was a veteran of the Dubai Carnival.

Further Ado’s mother, Sky Dreamer, placed in a trio of stakes including the 2012 Arlington Oaks (G3). Her first foal, Kimbear, started his career in Southern California, where he finished sixth in the 2017 Santa Anita Derby (G1) and runner-up in the Laz Barrera (G3).

Exported to Dubai, Kimbear became a mainstay Carnival performer. He scored his biggest wins in the Burj Nahaar (G3) on “Super Saturday” in 2018 and added the Al Maktoum Challenge Round 1 (G2) in 2020, both around a metric mile.

Further Ado’s grandmother is by Monarchos, the second-fastest Derby winner.

Sky Dreamer’s mother, To Dream About, is a well-named homebred by Oxley’s 2001 Derby upsetter Monarchos. By rallying from far off a blistering pace, Monarchos posted the second-fastest time in Derby history, 1:59.97. Only the legendary Secretariat was faster, with his 1:59 2/5 still ranking as the track record for 1 1/4 miles at Churchill Downs.

Monarchos first burst onto the scene at Gulfstream Park, winning three straight including the Florida Derby (G1). His final prep came in the Wood Memorial (G2), where his closing second set him up for the Derby. He did not duplicate his Derby heroics when sixth in the Preakness and a distant third in the Belmont (G1). Those remaining jewels were both won by Point Given, the beaten Derby favorite who gained revenge.

Further Ado’s great-grandmother is champion Beautiful Pleasure.

To Dream About’s mother, Beautiful Pleasure, was also a star in the Oxley silks but with greater longevity. She amassed six Grade 1 wins, from the age of two to five, and more than $2.7 million in earnings.

Beautiful Pleasure was voted champion older mare in 1999, following a sequence of victories in the Personal Ensign H. (G1), Beldame (G1), and Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1). Among the vanquished were Banshee Breeze and Silverbulletday.

Beautiful Pleasure is a full sister to $2.4 million-earner Mecke.

Florida-bred Beautiful Pleasure is by Maudlin, a son of 1975 Derby champion Foolish Pleasure. She is a full sister to the versatile Mecke, who bankrolled more than $2.4 million while winning Grade 1s on both dirt and turf.

Mecke competed respectably on the 1995 Triple Crown trail. Third to Thunder Gulch in the Florida Derby, and to Hall of Famer Serena’s Song in the Jim Beam (G2) (now the Jeff Ruby Steaks), Mecke was fifth in both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness. His first top-level score came in the Super Derby (G1) in track record-equaling time at Louisiana Downs.

Racing mostly on turf thereafter, Mecke landed the 1996 Turf Classic on Derby Day and later that summer, he upset the Arlington Million (G1).

Their mother, Beautiful Bid, is by the well-related Baldski. A son of Nijinsky II, the last English Triple Crown winner, Baldski was foaled by Broodmare of the Year Too Bald, who was also responsible for champion Capote and transatlantic millionaire Exceller.

Further Ado traces to Broodmare of the Year Bloodroot.

Beautiful Bid is a direct female-line descendant of Bimlette, the 1946 Frizette S. winner. Bimlette went on to produce No Robbery, hero of the 1963 Wood Memorial and a noted sire. Another of her descendants, Woodchopper, was runner-up in the 1981 Derby.

Bimlette’s full sister, Be Faithful, exerted an even greater long-term influence. The winner of the 1947 Hawthorne Gold Cup H. over males, Be Faithful produced 1955 Kentucky Oaks heroine Lalun. As a broodmare herself, Lalun emerged as an important building block of modern pedigrees through her sons, champion Never Bend and Bold Reason, who each placed in their respective editions of the Derby (1963 and 1971).

Bimlette and Be Faithful’s mother, Bloodroot, was honored as Broodmare of the Year for the exploits of her progeny. In addition to her dynamic fillies, she also produced 1945 San Juan Capistrano H. victor Bric a Bac. More than a decade after her award came Bloodroot’s champion son, the steeplechaser Ancestor.