Pedigree Profile: Locked

The Breeders' Futurity winner figures to be among the favorites in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile

Locked showed ability on debut, closing in a six furlong maiden special weight at Saratoga to finish third behind Just Steel and Be You. He returned a month later and was outstanding when stretching out to a mile, prompting the pace and drawing off to win by 7 1/4 lengths. Off that effort, he was tested in the G1 Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity, where he prevailed by half a length over a game The Wine Steward.

Locked was a $425,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase last year for Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Walmac Farm. The son of Gun Runner was out of the Malibu Moon mare Luna Rosa, a half-sister to multiple G1 winner Gabby’s Golden Gal and multiple graded stakes winner Always a Princess. Her single career win came at a mile on the turf. Their dam, Gabriellina Giof, was a stakes winner in Italy and North America, and was granddaughter of Italian group stakes winner Retrousse.

Gabriellina Giof was by Ashkalani, who shares his female family 11g with Stop the Music, the sire of her damsire, Cure the Blues. Cure the Blues, meanwhile, comes from the same female family 2s as Luna Rosa’s sire, Malibu Moon. There are fifteen starters out of mares bred on the Malibu Moon/Cure the Blues cross since 2011, and 20% of them are stakes winners, with the mare Slow and Steady producing three Maryland-bred stakes winners by three different stallions (one who raced prior to 2011 is not included in the percentage of stakes winners), as well as three additional stakes placed runners (who are all included in the 15 starters since 2011).

Luna Rosa’s first foal, a Frosted gelding named Mega Moon, broke his maiden for a $62,500 claiming tag at Del Mar this summer and has twice finished second in starter company in southern California since for trainer Peter Miller.

Locked is his sire’s only starter from this rarely seen female family 32, and his first G1 winner from the “I” haplogroup. Three of his G1 winners - Echo Zulu, Taiba, and Cyberknife - are from the “L3a1b” haplotype, Gunite is “N2a,” Society is “L2b1a,” and Early Voting is “L1a.” Gun Runner himself is from the “L” haplogroup, specifically the “L3a1a” haplotype as a member of family 17b.

Locked is Gun Runner’s third G1 winner from the A.P. Indy sire line, as the son of a Malibu Moon mare. Gun Runner has had only six starters out of mares carrying Malibu Moon, and three are stakes winners, with graded stakes winners Shotgun Hottie and Runninsonofagun also out of Malibu Moon mares. He’s produced 16.9% stakes winners in 77 starters out of mares carrying any source of A.P. Indy, including Taiba and Society from the A.P. Indy sire line and Gunite out of a Pulpit second dam.

The mile and an eighth distance of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile should not be an issue for Locked. His dam’s only career win came at a mile, and while Gabby’s Golden Gal was best going seven furlongs, Always a Princess was effective at a mile and an eighth. Looking to the future, a mile and a quarter is a bit more of a question mark, considering that his granddam was also a sprinter to miler type of mare, but Locked’s versatile running style and the stamina imparted by Gun Runner help the possibility he can go the classic distance.