Fun with Triple Crown Nominations: Derby Breeding
By Dana Byerly

Over the weekend the 2015 early Triple Crown nominations were announced. And, thanks to the handy work of colleague and dataset aficionado Jessica Chapel, we were able to more easily slice and dice the information!

The @DerbyMedia account tweeted out several observations about the nominations including sires with the most nominations, owners with most nominations, trainers with the most nominations, states with most nominations (by state-bred), a breakdown of nominations by country and a breakdown of nominations by sex (erroneously labeled as gender, which is a social construct, not a physical description).

Seeing the leaders lists made me curious about how the nominees stacked up by breeding. How many nominees were from Kentucky Derby winning sires or sires and dams who produced a Kentucky Derby winner? Obviously this isn’t necessarily the way to find your Kentucky Derby horse, but given the data points available it seemed like an interesting question, or at least a question I was willing to try to answer!

To make the task easier I grabbed a list of the Kentucky Derby winners from Pedigree Query and dropped it in a spreadsheet. You can find this spreadsheet and a xlsx version of the nominations (with damsire added, thanks @railbird!) at our new site Horse Racing Datasets.

 

Nominees by sires who have sired Kentucky Derby winners

By Malibu Moon sire of Orb (2013):
Aldrin
Danzig Moon
Dekalb County
Hillbilly Style
Malibu Wood
Moon Closer
Mr. Pucci
Mr. Z
Stanford
Veneto

By Flower Alley sire of I’ll Have Another (2012):
Firespike

By Birdstone sire of Mine That Bird (2009):
Bird Prince

By Street Cry sire of Street Sense (2007):
Action Hero
Glenville Gardens
Guapo Man
Irish Cat
King of Spades
Mountain Cry
Rock Star Status

By Dynaformer sire of Barbaro (2006):
Danish Dynaformer
Tempus Temporis
True to Form

By Elusive Quality sire of Smarty Jones (2004):
Calafate
Eh Cumpari

By Distorted Humor sire of Funny Cide (2003):
Crittenden
High Noon Rider
Khozan
Mawthooq
Punctuate
Richard the Great
Wisecracker

By Quiet American sire of Real Quiet (1998):
Our Commodore
Tally Jax

33 Total

 

Nominees by Kentucky Derby winners

By Super Saver (2010):
Competitive Edge
Frenchman Bay
Hashtag Bourbon
Ideal
Market Conduct
Runhappy
Super Surfer
Super Tuscan
Unrivaled

By Big Brown (2008):
Dortmund
Iphone Addiction
Puca

By Street Sense (2007):
Because I’m Happy
First Down
Ocho Ocho Ocho
Star’s Ride
Street Fashion
To the Victor
Tradesman

By Smarty Jones (2004):
Nasa

By Fusaichi Pegasus (2000):
Film Freak
Fusaichi Flame
International Star

23 Total

 

Nominees by 2nd Place Kentucky Derby runners

By Pioneerof the Nile (2009):
Al Risala
American Pharoah – Winner
Nileator
Peace Militant
River Date

By Hard Spun (2007):
Abdaar
Island Town
Maftool
Mamilio

By Bluegrass Cat (2006):
Bluegrass Singer
Moon River

11 Total

 

Nominees by 3rd place Kentucky Derby runners:

By Musket Man (2009):
Ostrolenka

By Curlin (2007):
Bold Conquest
Bourbon Commander
Jess’s Dream
Keen Ice
Measured
Nob Hill
Ocean Knight
Sakima
Stellar Wind
Struth
Top of Mind
Wabel

By Afleet Alex (2005):
Bombo Genesis
Materiality
Scamp
Texas Red

By Indian Charlie (1998):
Centauro Star
Cinco Charlie
Dukin’ With Dale
Indianaughty
Juan and Bina
Super Indian (FR)
Uninfluenced

24 Total

 

Nominees out of Dams who produced Kentucky Derby winners

Out of Set Them Free, dam of Giacomo (2004) – also by Derby producing sire Malibu Moon:
Veneto

 

We won’t know if any of this turns out to be useful until the evening of May 2nd, but it was fun to uncover. Go grab the data for yourself and see what you can uncover. There are plenty of fun observations to be had, like this, this and this. Have fun!

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