2019 Pegasus World Cup pedigree fun facts

The lucrative Pegasus Day purses will pad not only the participants’ bankrolls, but also their sires’ progeny earnings. The $7 million Pegasus World Cup Turf features offspring of several renowned sires. Delta Prince boasts the gaudiest pedigree as a Street Cry half-brother to three-time Eclipse Award champion Royal Delta. An earner of $4.8 million, Royal Delta was arguably unlucky to try the Dubai World Cup (G1) during its synthetic era. Had she come along after Meydan switched to dirt, she might have made history as the first female winner. Now Delta Prince has a chance of landing a giant pot himself, and adding another line to the late Street Cry’s biography, a story forever marked by his great daughters Winx and Zenyatta. In the process, Delta Prince would become the third major winner produced by the A.P. Indy mare Delta Princess, also responsible for 2014 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (G1) vixen Crown Queen. Coolmore’s Magic Wand is bred on the fantastic cross of Galileo over Danehill. By the supersire himself and out of the Dansili mare Prudenzia, Magic Wand is a three-quarter sister to 2013 Irish Oaks (G1) winner Chicquita. Catapult likewise hails from the Sadler’s Wells male line, as a son of leading sire Kitten’s Joy. Interestingly, his second dam is dirt sprinter Capote Belle, the 1996 Test (G1) winner. Yoshida’s dam was a notable sprinter who also starred at Saratoga – Hilda’s Passion, heroine of the 2011 Ballerina (G1). A Japanese-bred bought by an agent for WinStar and imported as a youngster, Yoshida is by the Sunday Silence stallion Heart’s Cry. Japan’s big hope in the Turf, Aerolithe, descends from Sunday Silence via her dam, a daughter of Neo Universe, and she traces to champion sprinter My Juliet. Aerolithe represents the Deputy Minister sire line (by way of the French Deputy son Kurofune), an influence that looms large in the Pegasus on dirt. The Smart Strike stallion English Channel has two chances in the Turf, Channel Maker and Fahan Mura. Channel Maker, a full brother to fellow Canadian champion Johnny Bear, is out of Monmouth stakes winner and course record-setter In Return, by South African legend Horse Chestnut. Fahan Mura, from the extended family of champion Sweet Catomine, is out of a Giant’s Causeway mare. Bricks and Mortar, by Giant’s Causeway and out of multiple French Group-placed stakes winner Beyond the Waves, is inbred 3x3 to Storm Bird. Next Shares, by Archarcharch from the family of California patriarch Unusual Heat, is inbred 4x3 to Nureyev. Dubby Dubbie, by the A.P. Indy-line stallion Ice Box, hails from the maternal line of 2016 Gamely (G1) queen Illuminant and Honey Fox, namesake of the Gulfstream turf stakes. A.P. Indy’s stamp is prominent in the $9 million Pegasus on the main track, with three male-line descendants in True Timber (by Mineshaft), Gunnevera (by Mineshaft’s son Dialed In), and Imperative (by Bernardini). True Timber is out of a Tiznow mare from the family of Pleasantly Perfect, giving him a rich Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) flavor that he’s yet to express on the track. Gunnevera’s dam was by Unbridled, while Imperative is a half to classy sprinter Battle Won. Kukulkan, out of a Bernardini mare, boasts three crosses of Seattle Slew in his pedigree. His sire, Point Determined by Point Given, has one strain of “Slew” on his maternal side, and Kukulkan’s dam is herself inbred to the 1977 Triple Crown legend. Second dam Mayo on the Side (by Aerolithe’s grandsire French Deputy) famously upset Azeri in the 2004 Humana Distaff (G1). That Deputy Minister influence is overt here through his son Awesome Again. Not only the sire of both Bravazo and Something Awesome (out of multiple Grade 2-winning millionaire Somethinaboutlaura), Awesome Again is also the broodmare sire of champion Accelerate. Another son of Deputy Minister, Dehere, is the broodmare sire of City of Light. Accelerate is bred on a cross evocative of Curlin, i.e., Smart Strike over Deputy Minister. In Accelerate’s case, he’s by Smart Strike’s son Lookin at Lucky. Moreover, Accelerate sports the Rasmussen Factor, the pattern of inbreeding to elite females, by virtue of his double cross to Broodmare of the Year Smartaire. Smart Strike himself is the sire of Tom’s d’Etat, whose dam, Julia Tuttle, is bred along similar lines to 2017 Horse of the Year (and 2018 Pegasus winner) Gun Runner. While Gun Runner is by Candy Ride out of a Giant’s Causeway mare, Julia Tuttle is by Giant’s Causeway and out of a full sister to Candy Ride. City of Light, by hot sire Quality Road, is out of a mare with the Rasmussen Factor. His dam is inbred to Somethingroyal, best known for producing Secretariat. Although the Sadler’s Wells sire line is best represented in the Turf, Seeking the Soul gives it a shot on the dirt. Charles Fipke’s homebred by Perfect Soul descends from a superb female line too, with his third dam being unbeaten Hall of Famer and Broodmare of the Year Personal Ensign. Audible, by the Storm Cat-line Into Mischief, is related to a former foe of Aerolithe. He comes from the immediate family of Rieno Tesoro, runner-up to Aerolithe in the 2017 NHK Mile Cup (G1). Patternrecognition, by Indian Charlie’s son Adios Charlie, is a near maternal relative of Battle of Midway. The “cousins” squared off in last fall’s Kelso (G2), where Patternrecognition prevailed and even-money Battle of Midway was fifth. Delta Prince photo by Lauren King/Coglianese Photography