Kentucky Derby Pedigree Profile: My Boy Jack

by Alastair Bull

With more than $425,000 in the bank after winning the Southwest Stakes (G3), My Boy Jack has already provided a great return for his owners on their $20,000 outlay on him as a yearling.

The purchase by Don’t Tell My Wife Stables, which races him along with Monomoy Stables, could go down as one of the great auction ring bargains in history if My Boy Jack can go on and win the Kentucky Derby (G1).

Bred by Airdrie Stud’s Brereton Jones in Kentucky, My Boy Jack was first taken to the sales ring for the 2015 Keeneland November mixed bloodstock sale, but he returned to Jones after bidding went no further than $14,000. He returned to Keeneland for the 2016 September Yearling Sale, where he was sold for $20,000.

My Boy Jack raced for most of his juvenile career on turf, winning the Zuma Beach Stakes and finishing seventh in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (G1) in a field that featured fellow Derby aspirants Catholic Boy, Flameaway, Snapper Sinclair, Mendelssohn and Untamed Domain. He resumed with a distant third behind McKinzie in the Sham Stakes (G3), but then relished the sloppy going with a great rails run to beat Combatant and Sporting Chance in the Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park.

My Boy Jack is from the second crop of the high-class racehorse Creative Cause. One of more than 30 Grade 1 winners by Giant’s Causeway, Creative Cause won the Norfolk Stakes (G1 – now the FrontRunner Stakes) as a two-year-old prior to finishing a close third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1). The next year, he won the San Felipe Stakes (G2) and finished second in the Santa Anita Derby (G1) and third in the Preakness Stakes (G1), both times behind I’ll Have Another – a horse he beat as a juvenile.

Creative Cause is a full brother to Destin, winner of the Tampa Bay Derby (G2) as a three-year-old prior to his close second in the 1 1/2-mile Belmont Stakes (G1). Last year Destin won the 1 3/4-mile Marathon Stakes (G2) at Del Mar.

Creative Cause’s first two crops produced a total of 165 foals, but he’s made a good start, with nine stakes winners to date. In addition to My Boy Jack they include Pavel, winner of Parx Racing’s Smarty Jones Stakes (G3), and five-time listed stakes winner Twisted Tom.

My Boy Jack’s dam, Gold N Shaft, is an unraced daughter of Mineshaft, who has made a good start to his career as a broodmare sire. Gold N Shaft’s dam, Gold N Delicious, won the Fleur de Lis Handicap (G3) and finished second in the Coaching Club American Oaks (G1). In addition to Gold N Shaft she produced the stakes winner Precious Kiss and three other stakes-placed horses.

It’s a pedigree that suggests he has a good chance of staying 1 1/4 miles. It remains to be seen whether he will be as good on a dry dirt track as he was in the wet at Oaklawn Park, but his future Derby preps should be watched with interest.

More Kentucky Derby Pedigree Profiles

Audible
Avery Island
Bolt d’Oro
Catholic Boy
Enticed
Firenze Fire
Free Drop Billy
Good Magic
Happily
Instilled Regard
Le Vent Se Leve
McKinzie
Roaring Lion
Ruggero
Saxon Warrior
Sumahama
The Tabulator