Pedigree Profile: Endlessly

The Jeff Ruby Steaks winner capped off a stellar day for Oscar Performance

Oscar Performance’s Endlessly picked up his fourth stakes win in six start this weekend, circling the field and drawing away from runner-up West Saratoga in the Jeff Ruby Steaks at Turfway Park. The impressive effort was the colt’s fifth lifetime win, and his second over a synthetic surface. Despite picking up 100 Kentucky Derby points for his effort, trainer Michael McCarthy stated after the race that he believes Endlessly’s best performances will be on turf, and thus they will be targeting the American Turf on the Kentucky Derby undercard.

Endlessly was the highlight of a dominant day for his sire Oscar Performance, who also sired Rushaway Stakes winner Trikari and maiden special weight winner Zverev earlier on the Turfway Park card. Trikari is out of graded stakes winner Dynamic Holiday, a daughter of Harlan’s Holiday, and Zverev is out of G1 winner Balance, a daughter of Thunder Gulch and a half-sister to champion Zenyatta. Oscar Performance also got maiden special weight winner Sneaker, out of a Giant’s Causeway mare, in a turf race at Santa Anita on Saturday.

Oscar Performance, whose first foals are four-year-olds this year, has been a very solid sire so far in his career. He himself was a G1 winner at two, three, and four, and he’s proven that he can get stakes winners on all surfaces, with the likes of multiple graded stakes winner Red Carpet Ready, who made her 2024 debut a winning one in the Hurricane Bertie Stakes earlier this month, excelling on dirt. Oscar Performance is also the sire of last year’s Hawthorne Derby winner Act a Fool, who is out of a half-sister to the dam of Endlessly and is also a multiple allowance winner on dirt, so while that surface does not appear to be in the immediate cards, Endlessly’s pedigree suggests it could be an option.

Oscar Performance’s pedigree is highlighted by 5x4 inbreeding to the excellent broodmare Special, the foundation mare of an elite sire family. Oscar Performance’s sire, Kitten’s Joy, is a grandson of Sadler’s Wells, himself a grandson of Special, and Oscar Performance’s damsire Theatrical is a son of Nureyev, a son of Special. Kitten’s Joy was the sire of 18 G1 winners worldwide, and his sons Camelot Kitten and Roaring Lion are both also the sires of G1 winners. Oscar Performance’s dam, Devine Actress, was a stakes winner who also produced graded stakes winners Oscar Nominated, a full brother to Oscar Performance, and Award Winner, by Ghostzapper. Oscar Performance’s only starter out of a Ghostzapper mare is G3 Florida Oaks runner-up Style Points.

Oscar Performance is a member of Lowe family 20b tracing to the excellent racehorse and broodmare Lady Pitt, the champion three-year-old filly of 1966 and dam of Blitey, a winner of races such as the Test and Maskette Stakes and the dam of three G1 winners, including Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Dancing Spree. The Lady Pitt tail-female line is responsible for 18 total G1 winners, including Hall of Famer Heavenly Prize and Horse of the Year Flightline. Over 7% of the 512 starters from the family since 2011 have been stakes winners.

Endlessly’s dam was an unraced daughter of the Danzig stallion Langfuhr, and out of the stakes winning turf router Society Dream, by Akarad. The Kitten’s Joy/Danzig sire line cross has also produced G1 2000 Guineas Stakes winner Kameko, as well as graded stakes winners Emotional Kitten, Kitten’s Roar, and Csaba. Oscar Performance is also the sire of Performance Crown, a multiple stakes winner on the dirt in Mexico, out of a mare from the Danzig sire line.

Endlessly comes from another elite sire family, the Sleek Dancer branch of Lowe family 9f. This female family has produced eight G1 winners, including Eclipse champions Lookin at Lucky and Wait a While. Of 265 starters since 2011, nearly 8% are stakes winners. The cross of El Prado over the Sleek Dancer tail-female line has produced four stakes winners in twelve starters (33%) since 2011, including G1 winner Coffee Clique by Medaglia d’Oro. In addition to Lookin at Lucky, Sleek Dancer’s family is responsible for G1-producing sires Northern Prospect and Sleek Gold, as well as the stakes sires Nelson and Cyrano. Her sire descendants have produced 18 G1 winners and 59 total stakes winners worldwide.

Oscar Performance already has stakes winner Act A Fool from the immediate family, but there is plenty of precedent for Kitten’s Joy to cross well with family 9f. His Cartier Horse of the Year Roaring Lion is from the Albany Isle branch of the family, and he also has G1 winner Real Solution from the Alluvial-Bayou-Bourtai-Escutcheon branch of the family. His stakes winners Ready to Purrform and Ava’s Kitten are also from the Alluvial branch of family 9f. All three of these branches of family 9f (Sleek Dancer, Albany Isle, and Escutcheon) trace to different daughters of the influential 1886 mare The Apple, a granddaughter of the 9f taproot Toxophilite Mare (1861). Kitten’s Joy has multiple graded stakes placed Voting Control tracing to the Toxophilite Mare via her granddaughter Astrology.

As a horse who has already proven his elite talent, and with plenty more likely to come, Endlessly is a very exciting young racehorse who could also represent an opportunity for the Kitten’s Joy branch of the El Prado sire line, as well as the Sleek Dancer sire family, to continue proliferating in the United States.