Belmont Stakes Racing Festival Pedigree Roundup
Pedigree notes on the nine G1 winners from Saratoga's Belmont Stakes Racing Festival
To celebrate the conclusion of the five-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga, I wanted to do something a little different for my blog. With the Belmont Stakes being won by Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty, whom I’ve already written about, I thought I would take this opportunity to highlight some quick notes about all of the G1 winners from across the brief meet.
She Feels Pretty - New York Stakes (G1)
With her win in the New York Stakes on June 6th, She Feels Pretty achieved the distinction of being a G1 winner at the ages of two, three, and four. The daughter of Karakontie is quite heavily linebred to Lowe family 1x. Her sire is by family 1x’s Bernstein and has a second dam by family 1x’s Woodman, who is also the damsire of She Feels Pretty’s damsire More Than Ready (who is also a member of family 1x. She Feels Pretty’s second damsire, Caerleon, is also a member of family 1x.
La Cara - Acorn Stakes (G1)
La Cara is bred on the Street Sense/Bernardini cross that is also responsible for G1 winners Maxfield, Speaker’s Corner, and Chancer McPatrick, and has gotten a total of seven stakes winners in 44 starters (15.9%). She is the first foal out of her dam, who was not a winner on the racetrack but was a full sister to G1 winners Angela Renee and To Honor and Serve. Her second dam, Pilfer, was also the dam of stakes winner Elnaawi by Street Sense, demonstrating that the immediate family has had success with Street Sense in addition to the prolific sire line nick.
La Cara is a member of the prolific Lowe family 4r and traces to the excellent broodmare Golden Trail as her sixth dam. Golden Trail’s tail-female line is responsible for an outstanding 73 stakes winners in 1,073 starters (6.8%), including 31 G1 winners (1.8%).
Dynamic Pricing - Just a Game Stakes (G1)
The Irish-bred Dynamic Pricing earned her first G1 win in the Just a Game Stakes on June 6th. A daughter of 2000 Guineas winner Night of Thunder, she’s the first black type runner in three foals from her dam, a daughter of multiple G1-winning two-year-old Dutch Art. She’s the first stakes winner in 12 starters on the cross of Night of Thunder’s sire Dubawi over mares carrying Dutch Art (8.3%).
Her second dam produced multiple G3 winner Shamida by Australia, a son of Night of Thunder’s damsire Galileo. Her third dam, Shemaka, was a winner of the G1 Prix de Diane and produced three stakes winners as well as a stakes placed runner. Interestingly, Dubawi has sired an additional stakes winner from this Shamim branch of Lowe family 3o - G2 winner Shamreen’s sixth dam is the fifth dam of Dynamic Pricing. Additionally, G1 winner Bay Bridge is a son of the Dubawi stallion New Bay and traces to Shamim as his sixth dam. Three of the 14 starters by stallions carrying Dubawi and tracing tail-female to Shamim are stakes winners (21.4%).
Dorth Vader - Ogden Phipps Stakes (G1)
John Ropes’ homebred Dorth Vader became a G1 winner on June 6th, capturing the Ogden Phipps Stakes in impressive fashion over Dazzling Move. The five-year-old daughter of Girvin is one of eight stakes winners from her sire’s first crop, and her stakes wins at two and three helped propel her sire from a $7,500 stud fee at Ocala Stud to the $25,000 fee he stands for at Airdrie today.
Despite a pedigree that is modest on the surface, bred by a stallion who stood in Florida at the time and out of a mare by Yonaguska, who’s not exactly a household name, there’s plenty of quality in Dorth Vader’s lineage. Her dam, Hardcore Candy, was an eight-time winner in 40 career starts who was precocious enough to be stakes placed as a two-year-old. Hardcore Candy was a half-sister to a stakes winner and while her dam was a non-winner in five lifetime starts, her next five dams were all black type horses, including graded stakes winner Queen of Song. This branch of Lowe family 5j tracing to Recce is responsible for 69 stakes winners worldwide, including 14 at the G1 level. Notable members of this family include Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Johar, Wood Memorial winner Nobiz Like Shobiz, and 2024 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Bluestocking (whose third dam Queen of Song is Dorth Vader’s fourth dam).
Raging Torrent - Metropolitan Handicap (G1)
Raging Torrent is the first G1 winner for the promising young stallion Maximus Mischief, who has sired a total of 13 stakes winners to date from his first two crops (and he is already the sire of a stakes-placed two-year-old in 2025). Being by a son of Into Mischief and out of a mare by Violence, Raging Torrent is bred on the very good Into Mischief/Medaglia d’Oro cross. While perhaps not as prolific as the Into Mischief/Distorted Humor cross (which we’ll discuss below), the cross of Into Mischief with Medaglia d’Oro has been very solid, with nine stakes winners in 100 starters (9%), including Raging Torrent and G1 winner Ways and Means (who was also victorious at the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival meet).
Patch Adams - Woody Stephens Stakes (G1)
That remarkable Into Mischief/Distorted Humor cross got its sixth G1 winner this past Saturday with Patch Adams’ win in the Woody Stephens Stakes. It was both his first stakes win and his first G1 win. Patch Adams is the 20th stakes winner in 169 starters (11.8%) on the cross of Into Mischief with Distorted Humor, and adds to the likes of G1 winners Life Is Good, Practical Joke, and Citizen Bull as G1 winners on the cross.
In addition to the Into Mischief/Distorted Humor cross, Patch Adams also represents the very good Into Mischief/Tiznow cross. He is the tenth stakes winner in 148 starters on that cross (6.8%), which is also responsible for G1 winners Mystik Dan, Played Hard, and Wonder Wheel.
Patch Adams is out of the stakes winning mare Well Humored, a full sister to multiple graded stakes placed winner Muqtaser and a half-sister to G1 winner American Patriot and graded stakes winner Parchment Party (a winner of the G3 Belmont Gold Cup the day before his “nephew” earned a G1 win in the Woody Stephens). His second dam, Life Well Lived, is a full sister to G1 Dubai World Cup winner Well Armed and a half to the graded stakes winning Distorted Humor mare Witty. Twelve of the 75 starters tracing tail-female to Patch Adams’ third dam Well Dressed are stakes winners (16%), and he is the fifth G1 winner to hail from this branch of Lowe family 8h, joining not only Well Armed but Cyberknife, Played Hard, and American Patriot in that distinction.
Sovereignty - Belmont Stakes (G1)
The Kentucky Derby winner once again proved superior to his rival Journalism with a dominant win in the Belmont Stakes. I discussed him in depth after the Kentucky Derby, which you can read here.
Ag Bullet - Jaipur Stakes (G1)
Ag Bullet earned the rare distinction of being a G1-winning turf sprinter in Sunday’s Jaipur Stakes. The five-year-old daughter of Twirling Candy stalked the pace early and won by a clear two lengths over a useful group of runners. She is the most accomplished runner out of her dam Noble Grey, a daughter of Forestry who won both of her lifetime starts. Her second dam, Never Fail, was twice stakes placed in her career and was herself out of a stakes placed mare who produced three additional black type runners, most notably 1996 Schuylerville Stakes winner How About Now.
Deterministic - Manhattan Stakes (G1)
Deterministic pulled off a gutsy and poignant win in the Manhattan Stakes, becoming the first G1 winner for trainer Miguel Clement following the recent passing of his father, Christophe. The race was originally scheduled to 1 3/16 miles on the Mellon turf but was rescheduled and shortened to nine furlongs on the inner turf due to significant rainfall over the weekend.
Deterministic is a son of Liam’s Map and out of the Speightstown mare Giulio’s Jewel. He is the best runner out of his dam but hails from the elite Courtly Dee branch of Lowe family A4, and is one of four black type horses in just six starters by his sire from any branch of family A4 (all out of unique mares). His dam is a half-sister to multiple stakes placed Duff One, and his third dam, Amelia, is the dam of five stakes winners, as well as G1 placed He’s Had Enough. There are 89 stakes winners worldwide tracing back to his fifth dam, Courtly Dee, and he is the 17th G1 winner from this family.