Kentucky Derby Pedigree Corner Presented By FanDuel Racing: Stronghold, Resilience, Society Man, Epic Ride, And Mugatu

Ghostzapper was inducted into horse racing’s Hall of Fame in 2012 after a career that included four Grade 1 wins from 6 ½ furlongs (Vosburgh Stakes) to 1 ¼ miles (Breeders’ Cup Classic). The latter victory helped him earn Horse of the Year honors in 2004.

At stud, Ghostzapper’s average progeny winning distance of 7.25 puts him in the middle of the pack among this year’s Derby sires. However, he’s gotten plenty of successful runners at the 1 ¼-mile distance including Mystic Guide (Dubai World Cup) and Shaman Ghost (Santa Anita Handicap, Queen’s Plate Stakes), Holy Helena (Queen’s Plate) and Moira (Queen’s Plate). Shaman Ghost also won the G2 Brooklyn Invitational Stakes at 1 ¼ miles.

Other Grade 1 winners around two turns by Ghostzapper include Moreno, Guarana, and Stately Victor.

Ghostzapper’s top finisher in the Kentucky Derby is Major Fed, who ran 10^th in 2020.

Spectator won three of nine starts, highlighted by a victory in the G2 Sorrento Stakes, a 6 ½-furlong race for 2-year-olds. She won on debut a start prior to the Sorrento, going five furlongs, and she started her 3-year-old season with a victory in a six-furlong allowance optional claiming race.

However, Spectator did show ability going longer, finishing second in the G1 Santa Anita Oaks at 1 1/16 miles.

Spectator died giving birth to Stonghold, who was her only foal.

#19 - Resilience
Into Mischief x Meadowsweet, by Smart Strike

Into Mischief has sired two Kentucky Derby winners – Authentic in 2020 and Mandaloun in 2021 – which puts him in a 16-way tie for the second-most of all-time, alongside the likes of Man o’ War, Halo, and Alydar. He is also the only sire to send three or more of his progeny to multiple Kentucky Derbies (2021 and 2023).

With high-end credentials like that, it’s easier to forgive his average progeny winning distance of 6.83 furlongs, which is in the lower tier of Derby sires.

Last year, Into Mischief saw Pretty Mischievous win the Kentucky Oaks. In addition to his Derby winners, Into Mischief is responsible for Audible, who finished third in the 2018 Derby after winning the G1 Florida Derby at 1 1/8 miles.

Other notable two-turn Grade 1 winners by the five-time leading North American general sire include Laurel River, Life Is Good, Goldencents, Wonder Wheel, Played Hard, Newgate, Atone, and 2024 Kentucky Oaks contender Leslie’s Rose.

During his own on-track career, Into Mischief won three of six starts, including the G1 CashCall Futurity at 1 1/16 miles.

Meadowsweet won two of six career starts, both during her 3-year-old season, both coming on the turf. She won on debut in May of her sophomore campaign in a 6 ½-furlong maiden special weight at Santa Anita Park. Two starts later, she won an allowance optional claiming race at Del Mar going 1 1/16 miles.

Resilience is her second foal to race, following the Quality Road gelding Cloud Forest, who won one of 11 starts. That victory came in a one-mile maiden special weight race during last year’s Belmont at the Big A meet.

#20 - Society Man
Good Magic x You Cheated, by Colonel John

Good Magic was the champion 2-year-old male of 2017 after winning the 1 1/16 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. At three, he won the G1 Haskell Invitational Stakes and G1 Blue Grass Stakes, both at 1 1/8 miles, and he also finished second in the 2018 Kentucky Derby.

Though Good Magic got a Derby winner from his first crop in Mage, his average progeny winning distance of 7.32 furlongs is squarely in the middle of the pack for this year’s class of Kentucky Derby sires.

Good Magic has sired nine graded stakes winners and three Grade 1 winners, with Mage being joined in the Grade 1 club by fellow 3-year-old Muth, who won this year’s Arkansas Derby at 1 1/8 miles, and Blazing Sevens, who took the G1 Champagne Stakes going a mile. Blazing Sevens also ran a close second in last year’s Preakness Stakes.

Good Magic was eight years old when Mage won last year’s Derby, placing him in an eight-way tie for the youngest horse to sire a Derby winner, with the likes of Bodemeister, Nyquist, Maria’s Mon, and Gallant Fox.

You Cheated won four of 26 career starts, winning a pair of 6 ½-furlong sprints over the synthetic surface at Turfway Park early in her career, then stretching out to win a claiming race over the turf at Horseshoe Indianapolis going 1 1/16 miles and finally a 1 1/8-mile allowance optional claiming race at Churchill Downs.

Society Man is You Cheated’s second foal. Her first is the Twirling Candy colt Atilano, who is winless in six starts, but has placed in four of them. Among those efforts are runner-up finishes in maiden special weight races at Thistledown, going 5 ½ furlongs and six furlongs.

#21 - Epic Ride
Blame x Pick a Time, by Gio Ponti

Blame was the champion older male of 2010 based on a campaign that included wins in the G1 Breeders’ Cup Classic (1 ¼ miles), G1 Whitney Handicap (1 1/8 miles), G1 Stephen Foster Handicap (1 1/8 miles) and G3 William Donald Schaefer Stakes (1 1/16 miles). At age three, he won the G2 Clark Handicap and G2 Fayette Stakes, both going 1 1/8 miles against older competition.

Blame’s average progeny winning distance of 7.42 furlongs puts him in the top half of this year’s class of Kentucky Derby sires.

He has sired six Grade 1 winners, including Wet Paint, who won the G1 Coaching Club American Oaks at 1 1/8 miles and finished fourth in last year’s Kentucky Oaks. Nadal won the G1 Arkansas Derby at 1 1/8 miles, while Senga won the French G1 Prix de Diane going 2,100 meters (about 1 5/16 miles).

Epic Ride would be Blame’s first Kentucky Derby starter.

Pick a Time went unplaced in one career start: a 5 ½-furlong maiden special weight over the Tapeta at Presque Isle Downs.

Epic Ride is her second foal, following the Honor Code gelding Reservation, who is winless in 16 career starts, but has finished third on six occasions. Those third-place efforts have come in maiden races on the Ohio circuit, ranging from 5 ½ furlongs to one mile.

#22 - Mugatu
Blofeld x Union Way, by Union Rags

Blofeld was a fast-starting juvenile, winning each of his first three races. He debuted with a pace-stalking score in a five-furlong Saratoga maiden special weight, which he parlayed into another stalking victory in the G2 Futurity Stakes going six furlongs. He then finished the season with a five-length drubbing of the G2 Nashua Stakes at one mile. During his 4-year-old campaign, Blofeld took the G2 Gulfstream Park Handicap, once again going one mile.

Blofeld’s average progeny winning distance of 6.86 furlongs is a lower-middle figure for this year’s class of Derby sires.

He is still seeking his first graded stakes winner, but he has gotten close with Fletcher, who finished third in last year’s Grade 2 Penn Mile Stakes.

Blofeld has also sired five stakes winners, including Charming Way, who won the Nellie Morse Stakes at Laurel Park in February going 1 1/16 miles. Johnyz From Albany took the Maryland Million Nursery Stakes at six furlongs, while Chickieness won the Maryland Million Lassie Stakes at the same distance. Miss Harriett is a stakes winner at six and seven furlongs, and Alpine Mist won the Louisiana-Bred Premier Starlet Stakes going one mile. All of the aforementioned stakes winners besides Alpine Mist are Maryland-breds.

Mugatu would be Blofeld’s first Kentucky Derby starter.

Union Way went winless in nine career starts at ages two and three, but she did finish third on three occasions. All three races came at 1 1/8 miles, with two on the turf and one on dirt.

All three of her foals to race are winners, all by Blofeld.

Gamestonks has won five of 27 starts, with all of her victories coming between one mile and 1 1/16 miles on the East Coast. She graduated in a Laurel Park maiden claiming race as a 2-year-old, then returned at age three to take a starter optional claiming race at Parx Racing. Two starts later, she returned to Laurel to take an allowance optional claiming race. Gamestonks then started his 4-year-old campaign with a score in a Laurel starter optional claimer, and she took an allowance at Penn National later that season.

Raise the Praise has won twice in 15 starts. She graduated in her fourth career start as a 2-year-old, going five furlongs in a Louisiana Downs maiden special weight. At three, she won a five-furlong claiming race at Evangeline Downs.