Pedigree Profile: East Avenue

The Godolphin colt is the fourth Breeders' Futurity winner from his female family in the last six years

Since 2019, four of the six runnings of Keeneland’s Claiborne Breeders' Futurity have been won by members of La Troienne’s family 1x. East Avenue is the most recent to achieve this distinction, joining 2019 winner Maxfield, 2020 winner Essential Quality, and 2022 winner Forte. Like Maxfield and Essential Quality, East Avenue is a homebred for Godolphin, who also bred his dam, Dance Music, and campaigned his second dam, G1 winner and 2023 Broodmare of the Year Dance Card.

The Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity was East Avenue’s second win in as many starts. As he did on debut at Ellis Park, East Avenue went straight to the front and drew off in the stretch. The Brendan Walsh trainee was ridden by Tyler Gaffalione in his victory on Saturday, coasting home to win by 5 1/4 lengths over favored Ferocious.

East Avenue is a son of Medaglia d’Oro, who needs no real introduction as one of the most influential stallions of the 21st century. Although he has reached an advanced age - he was 22 when East Avenue was conceived in 2021, - he has still gotten eight black type winners this year. In addition to East Avenue, he is the sire of stakes winner Shifty and G1 placed Nitrogen from his current crop of 81 two-year-olds.

East Avenue’s dam, Dance Music, is an unraced daughter of Ghostzapper out of 2012 G1 Gazelle Handicap winner Dance Card. Dance Card is the dam of 2023 Horse of the Year Cody’s Wish, by Curlin, as well as graded stakes winner Endorsed and stakes placed Bocephus, both by East Avenue’s sire Medaglia d’Oro.

As mentioned, this colt is a member of family 1x, tracing to La Troienne’s daughter Baby League. This branch of Baby League’s family, tracing to Betteefarlee, is not one of the more prolific branches of family 1x, with Dance Card and her descendants being the most accomplished runners, although Dance Card’s dam Tempting Note was stakes placed and her third dam Thinghatab was a multiple graded stakes winner.

Interestingly, the cross of Dance Music’s sire Ghostzapper over her damsire Tapit creates linebreeding to the elite mare Foggy Note, as Tapit’s third dam, Moon Glitter, is a full sister to Ghostzapper’s damsire Relaunch. There are 20 stakes winners out of mares inbred to Foggy Note - 4.9% of 408 starters.

East Avenue is the fourth stakes winner in 23 starters on the Medaglia d’Oro/Ghostzapper cross (17.4%), and the fifth stakes winner in 70 starters on the Medaglia d’Oro/Tapit cross (7.1%). East Avenue is his sire’s third G1 winner tracing tail-female to La Troienne, joining Elate and Dickinson. Medaglia d’Oro’s son Violence has Forte from family 1x, along with G1 placed Drew’s Gold and 2024 Bashford Manor stakes winner Politicallycorrect. Another Medaglia d’Oro son, Bolt d’Oro, is the sire of only two starters to date from family 1x, both stakes placed winners.

There is plenty of quality in East Avenue’s pedigree, and reason to think that he should be capable of getting at least the extra sixteenth of a mile of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile with no issue. There’s reason for some scrutiny moving on to classic distances as a three-year-old, but if he continues to win at nine furlongs with the ease and high cruising speed he’s exhibited in his first two starts, he could be a force on the Kentucky Derby trail in 2025.