In laying the groundwork for the first Saturday in May, Leonatus Stakes at Race Park not necessarily the most prominent. That said, the race, named after the 1883 Kentucky Derby winner, resulted in the John Battaglia Memorial paying points and Jeff Ruby Steaks (G3), and was contested last year by the Kentucky winner. Derby (G1) rich attack third person.
With that in mind, it’s worth considering the fascinating pedigree of this year’s impressive Leonatus Stakes winner, Funtastic again . He entered the notebooks as a man to watch when he scored 8 and a half points in length in a mile special women’s weight class, off the field at Racecourse Saratoga End of August. Taking a significant step forward in class, Funtastic Once again could not do better than ninth place in Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity (G1), the tournament won by Breeders’ Cup winner Juvenile (G1) then Forte with Saturday’s Lecomte Stakes (G3) holder Instant coffee about Wednesday. Funtastic Once again ended the year showcasing Turfway’s love of all-weather surfaces running 5 1/2 lengths in an optional claim/mileage event in early December.
Funtastic Again is a member of the first season of fun . Only 12 of those 23 ponies have started so far, but four have won, including Funtastic Again, First peace succeed in special maiden weight at Santa Anita . Parkrunner-up in Eddie Logan Stakes and third in Cecil B. Demille Stakes (G3).
That represents a commendable start, as Funtastic itself didn’t start until July of the season turning 3 and took a while to peak. In fact, only one of his first eight starts, in which he won three, was in a black category event that was runner-up in the Gio Ponti Stake at Aqueduct race track late in his first campaign. Funtastic’s first try in the classified holdings company came the following June, where he defied 23-1 odds to enter United Nations Shares (G1T). That proved to be an unrepeatable standout and Funtastic’s only matches later saw him eliminated in the Sword Dancer Stakes (G1T) and the Canadian International Stakes (G1T).
Funtastic wins United Nations Stakes 2018 at Monmouth Park
If Funtastic’s race track record doesn’t quite match the commercial record when he retires to stand at Three Chimneys Ranch in Midway, Ky., for the 2019 breeding season, neither can the same. out for his pedigree. He is the son of record-breaker More Than Ready, three-times the Lead Male on 2-year-olds in North America and Australia, and the male of 218 stake winners, 102 ranked. , one of which, the stock Goose (G1) queen, Buster’s Ready, is not Funtastic’s half-sister.
It looks like Funtastic is More Than Ready’s 14th son to give birth to a black winner, others include Sebring, an Australian standout; Gimmethegreenlight, who did very well in South Africa; and Daredevil, the king of classic North American victors Swiss skydiver —also a 3-year-old Fat Baby Champion—and shedaresthedevil in its first crop. Bet Winner Quiet dance Funtastic is also a half brother to the Horse of the Year Saint Liam —like Funtastic, by a son of Halo—who bred nine stake winners, including the Champion Havre de Grace , in its only crop. Funtastic is also half-brother to the Quiet Giant, whose son Horse of the Year, gunman added brilliance to his pedigree with an explosive start to his student career.
Funtastic Again’s dam, Broken Vow’s daughter Repeta, has never raced, but she’s the dam of four other winners, including the black-type scorer. manly man and grade 2 charming lady . The second dam, Attico (by the horse Nureyev Atticus), won a pair of bets on the pitch, and is the half-sister to Miso Pretty, the maternal grandmother of Breathe out fire succeed in Georgian Bay Stakes at Honeysuckle last year.
Breathing Fire wins Georgian Bay Stakes 2022 at Woodbine
Attico comes out of Irish Coco, the half-sister of Judge TC, who took three classified shares, including Fayette Handicap (G2), both out of the Secretariat. With the second season of I’m Pretty, we come to a real celebrity in the form of Aspidistra. She was purchased for $6,500 by employees of the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Corporation as a 70th birthday present for company owner William L. McKnight. Although she has not achieved anything notable as a runner, Aspidistra has proved a remarkable foundation for McKnight’s Tartan Farm, whose children include Dr. Fager and Ta. Wee, who between them will earn no less than seven Eclipse Awards and the two will have a similar-changing impact at stud.
Aspidistra is also a key point in Funtastic Again’s genealogy model. Both Quiet Dance, Funtastic’s dam, and Broken Vow, Funtastic Again’s sire, are Fappiano/Northern Dancer crosses. In addition, two sources of Fappiano are the Quiet American and the Unbridled, horses with a complex interlinked pedigree. The Quiet American is the half-sister of the Fappiano Dam, and was crossed 3×2 with Dr. Fager, and 4×3 with Cequillo, Fappiano’s third dam. Unbridled crossed the tail with Aspidistra, and was crossed 4×4 with that mare and 4×5 crossed with Dr. Fager’s male, Rough ‘n Tumble. All told, that gives Aspidstra 7x7x6x7x7, four of which surpass those with her clones.
There are more connected wrinkles here. Funtastic’s male, More Than Ready, came out of Woodman’s Girl, who tailed the female with another famous wife, La Troienne, and had four crosses of that mare, again through two individuals. crossed with her, and there are nine La Troienne hybrids in the Funtastic Again dam genealogy, including a pedigree through Aspidistra’s father, Better Self, La Troienne’s only notable son, Bimelech. All this took on even greater significance when it was realized that La Troienne and Aspidistra came from the same mitochondrial ‘N’ haplogroup.
As a footnote, we will observe that Louisiana Stakes (G3) last Saturday increased happy americans . He’s on the side Runhappy -via Super savings a mare from the La Troienne family with considerable inbreeding to that mare, and from a mare whose Oath failed—with a mother of the Quiet American, which would pull the offspring by the tail. same source of the ‘N’ mitochondrial lineage as La Troienne and Aspidistra.
