Pedigree Profile: Up to the Mark

The future Lane's End stallion takes a three-G1 win streak to the Breeders' Cup

Up to the Mark put in a tenacious performance this past weekend to nose out Master of The Seas in the Coolmore Turf Mile Stakes at Keeneland. It was recently announced that the four-year-old son of Not This Time would stand at Lane’s End upon his retirement, and there’s a lot to look forward to from him in that regard. Though he broke his maiden impressively going six furlongs on the dirt last year, he’s become a different horse since switching to the turf as a four-year-old, starting off the year with two impressive allowance scores before stepping up to G1 company this spring in the Maker’s Mark Mile. His third-place effort that day was good enough for trainer Todd Pletcher to keep him running against the best of the division in Churchill Downs’ Turf Classic Stakes, where he romped by 3 3/4 lengths. He followed that effort up with a 2 3/4 length win in the G1 Manhattan Stakes, then took some time off before returning in Keeneland’s Turf Mile, his third consecutive G1 score.

Up to the Mark is the second foal from his dam, the unraced Ghostzapper mare Belle’s Finale. This is a useful branch of the prolific family 13c, the Lowe family that includes the likes of Mr. Prospector, Seattle Slew, Elusive Quality, Quality Road, Candy Ride, Forestry, and the exciting young stallion Bolt d’Oro, among others. Interestingly, Ghostzapper shares the “I2a1” mitochondrial haplotype with family 13c, meaning that Belle’s Finale was linebred to her own mitochondrial family, a pattern I’ve discussed many times previously, perhaps most notably in this year’s Kentucky Derby winner, Mage. Not This Time’s sire Giant’s Causeway also comes from this genetic family.

In addition to the depth of the distant female family, Up to the Mark’s immediate family is also exceptionally successful. His dam was a full sister to stakes winner Zapper Belle, herself a black type producer, and their dam, Capote Belle, was a multiple graded stakes winner whose greatest career success came in the prestigious G1 Test Stakes. Capote Belle was out of the Fappiano mare Rythmical, a half sister to graded stakes winners Duluth and Real Courage, stakes winner I Really Will, and G1 placed Car Gal.

Their dam, Graceful Gal, was out of the 1981 Broodmare of the Year Natashka, who also produced G1 winner Gregorian and multiple graded stakes winner Truly Bound. Natashka’s other notable descendants include Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner Anees, Irish St. Leger winner Dark Lomond, multiple G1 winner Grand Couturier, multiple G1 winner Switch, and Japanese G1 winners Heavenly Romance, Silk Prima Donna, and Awardee, among others. She is the third dam of the stallion Elusive Quality. Each of Natashka’s first five dams were also broodmares of note, tracing back to the great filly Frizette in the fifth generation.

The top half of Up to the Mark’s pedigree is just as strong, being by the fantastic young stallion Not This Time. Though Not This Time’s career was abbreviated by injury, he’s become a force to reckon with as a stallion, with five G1 winners from his first three crops. The son of Giant’s Causeway was a top ten leading sire last year and currently sits 8th on the leading sire list.

Not This Time, like Up to the Mark, comes from a very strong female family that gets repeated in the pedigree of his dam. He’s a half to three other stakes winners, including G1 winner Liam’s Map, and traces back to the Hall of Fame mare Ta Wee in the fifth generation. That great racehorse and broodmare also appears as the dam of his second damsire, Great Above, and this female family 1r is duplicated via the presence of Fappiano on the bottom of Up to the Mark’s pedigree. Fappiano’s damsire, Dr. Fager, was a half brother to Ta Wee, both being out of the mare Aspidistra. A similar cross can be found in Liam’s Map, who was a grandson of Unbridled, a son of Fappiano who traced tail-female to another daughter of Aspidistra.

The cross of Not This Time over Fappiano has produced 14% stakes winners in 64 starters - three of his five G1 winners carry Fappiano on the dam’s side - interestingly, his G1 Travers winner Epicenter is out of a mare by Candy Ride, a member of family 13c from the Fappiano sire line. His G1 Del Mar Debutante winner Princess Noor is bred even more similarly, being out of a mare by a son of Awesome Again with a second damsire by a son of Fappiano.

Not This Time has also done well when crossed with Ghostzapper’s sire Awesome Again, with three stakes winners in 13 starters (23.1%), including Up to the Mark and Princess Noor. Not This Time has two stakes winners in 14 starters (14.3%) carrying Up to the Mark’s second damsire, Capote.

Interestingly, Not This Time and Ghostzapper are bred on opposite versions of the same mitochondrial cross, with Not This Time being from the “N” haplogroup by a stallion from the “I” haplogroup, while Ghostzapper is a member of the “I” haplogroup by a member of the “N” haplogroup. Although mitochondrial DNA is only transferred from mother to child, I think that patterns like this are worth paying attention to in a pedigree. Up to the Mark himself is a product of crossing a stallion from the “N” haplogroup with a mare from the “I” haplogroup, just like his damsire.

I’m very excited for Up to the Mark as a stallion at Lane’s End. He has proven to have a devastating turn of foot, and should be able to get winner on any surface. I think it would be particularly interesting to see him with mares by Candy Ride, with whom he shares his female family and his sire has seen great success.

Overall, Up to the Mark is a classic example of a fantastic pedigree playing out into a fantastic racehorse, with the strength and depth of both halves of his pedigree combining beneficially to create a top-class runner who was best on one surface but should be able to get offspring that run over anything.