Pedigree Profile: Geaux Rocket Ride
The Haskell winner's dam is bred on a prolific pattern
Geaux Rocket Ride was impressive in his Haskell Stakes victory, stalking off the pacesetters Arabian Knight and Awesome Strong, rather easily putting away the favorite, and bravely fending off the Kentucky Derby winner in the stretch. He would kick away at the end to win by 1 3/4 lengths. He has now won three of his four lifetime starts, with his only defeat coming to Practical Move in the San Felipe Stakes. With plenty of room for continued growth under Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella, he’s thrown another name into the already-muddled three-year-old picture.
Geaux Rocket Ride is the 18th G1 winner for his sire, Candy Ride, who has been a standout from the start of his stallion career. He’s the second stakes winner in just seven starters bred on the Candy Ride/Uncle Mo cross.
Geaux Rocket Ride’s dam, Beyond Grace, was unable to win in three career starts, but she was a full sister to a multiple stakes placed runner, Mighty Mo. Her dam, Flowers Athefinish, was a winner once in eight starts and was a half sibling to two stakes winners and three graded stakes placed runners. This branch of Lowe family 1n traces back to the talented stakes winner Gay Matelda and her blue hen fifth dam, Popingaol. Candy Ride has also produced the stakes winner C. C. Ride from the female family of Gay Matelda’s full sister Notable Lady. He has graded stakes winner Heavenly Sunday and stakes winners Candy Raid and Lovely Ride from other branches of this female family.
Via his second dam, a daughter of Grand Reward (himself out of Haskell Stakes winner Serena’s Song), he is an example of the very useful Candy Ride/Storm Cat cross, which has produced 6.8% stakes winners in 985 starters. One of the more fascinating aspects of Geaux Rocket Ride’s pedigree is the cross of Uncle Mo with Storm Cat on the bottom, as both of those stallions hail from Lowe family 8c, tracing to the mare Rowe’s Bud (the 6th dam of Storm Cat and 9th of Uncle Mo).
Crossing Uncle Mo over Storm Cat has produced a healthy 6.9% stakes winners in 579 starters, including Uncle Mo’s Kentucky Derby winning son Nyquist and Belmont Stakes winner Mo Donegal.
However, the first foals out of mares bred on this cross have been even more impressive - there have been six stakes winners among the first 29 starters out of mares bred on this cross (20.7%), including four current three-year-olds. In addition to Geaux Rocket Ride, Fair Grounds Oaks winner Southlawn, El Camino Real Derby winner Chase the Chaos, and last year’s Sleepy Hollow Stakes winner Arctic Arrogance are all out of Uncle Mo mares with Storm Cat on the bottom half of their pedigree. In three of these cases, their second dams are from the Storm Cat sire line, while Chase the Chaos’ second dam is by Jump Start, who is out of a Storm Cat mare. Other stakes winners out of mares bred on this cross include Salvator Mile winner Petulante and three-time stakes winner Bank on Shea.
It will be interesting to see if more mares bred on the Uncle Mo/Storm Cat cross prove to be stakes producers. Hip 349 at the upcoming Fasig-Tipton New York Bred Yearling sale at Saratoga is by Candy Ride’s son Vekoma and out of a mare by Uncle Mo, with a second dam by Storm Cat’s son Freud.