Pedigree fun facts: 2023 Breeders’ Futurity

Locked’s dam (mother), Luna Rosa, is a half-sister to two high-profile performers – Gabby’s Golden Gal, winner of the 2009 Acorn (G1) and 2010 Santa Monica H. (G1), and multiple Grade 2 scorer Always a Princess, herself Grade 1-placed. Luna Rosa is a daughter of Malibu Moon, himself by Triple Crown great Seattle Slew’s Hall of Fame son, A.P. Indy.

Hall of Famer Curlin, whose paternal grandson Rattle N Roll garnered the 2021 Breeders’ Futurity, has three more grandsons in Saturday’s renewal. West Saratoga and The Wine Steward claim him on their sires’ side, while Generous Tipper is out of a Curlin mare.

West Saratoga is by Curlin’s son Exaggerator, the 2015 Breeders’ Futurity runner-up who went on to win such marquee events as the 2016 Preakness (G1). Out of a mare by champion Uncle Mo, West Saratoga comes from the family of Wickedly Perfect, heroine of the 2010 Alcibiades (G1) at Keeneland.

The Wine Steward is from the first crop of hot sire Vino Rosso, one of Curlin’s champions. The Wine Steward is out of Call to Service, who is a half-sister to a trio of graded performers including Giant Game, the third-placer in the 2021 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) and winner of this summer’s Prairie Meadows Cornhusker H. (G3).

Curlin has had exceptional success crossing with Seattle Slew-line mares, and The Wine Steward replicates that idea. His dam is by To Honor and Serve, himself a son of A.P. Indy’s 2006 Preakness and Travers (G1) champion Bernardini. 

Generous Tipper, out of the multiple stakes-winning Curlin mare Stopshoppingdebbie, is a son of Curlin’s old rival on the 2007 Triple Crown trail, Street Sense. Third in the 2006 Breeders’ Futurity on Keeneland’s old synthetic surface, Street Sense thrived on dirt to reign as the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile champion. He made history by becoming the first Juvenile winner to capture the Kentucky Derby, where an inexperienced Curlin was third. Curlin gained revenge in the Preakness.

Street Sense, sire of 2019 Breeders’ Futurity star Maxfield, has two chances on Saturday. His other entrant, longshot Baytown Chatterbox, is out of the Grade 1-placed stakes winner Endless Chatter, a mare by the Giant’s Causeway stallion First Samurai.

Baytown Chatterbox is a close maternal relative of better-fancied rival Awesome Road. By Quality Road, Awesome Road is a half-brother to Baytown Chatterbox’s dam, Endless Chatter, as well as to European Group 1-placed stakes scorer Whitecliffsofdover.

Of even greater consequence, Awesome Road’s dam, the A.P. Indy mare Orate, is a full sister to influential sire Pulpit. His legacy is secure as the sire of patriarch Tapit, whose two-time champion son Essential Quality scored his first stakes victory in the 2020 Breeders’ Futurity.

Northern Flame is yet another product of an A.P. Indy-line mare – Darling’s Darling, by Bernardini, who is also the broodmare sire of the aforementioned Maxfield. This is the family of 2017 Alcibiades winner Heavenly Love, and further back, Japanese Horse of the Year Zenno Rob Roy.

Northern Flame’s sire, Flameaway, is off to a fine start with his first crop of two-year-olds this season. Flameaway, by Scat Daddy, is out of a mare by 2000 Kentucky Derby hero Fusaichi Pegasus. In 2018, Flameaway himself competed in the Kentucky Derby won by a fellow son of Scat Daddy, Triple Crown sweeper Justify, who is represented by Just Steel in the Breeders’ Futurity. 

Just Steel is out of Australian Group 1 vixen Irish Lights, the dam of Group performers on turf in both hemispheres. By Fastnet Rock, a champion son of supersire Danehill, Irish Lights has produced Australian Group 2 scorer Omei Sword as well as Lipizzaner, fourth in the 2020 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G2) when trained by Aidan O’Brien. 

Timberlake was cross-entered to the Breeders’ Futurity but reportedly expected in Saturday’s Champagne (G1) at Aqueduct.