Kentucky Derby Pedigree Corner Presented By FanDuel Racing: Dornoch, Sierra Leone, Mystik Dan, And Catching Freedom

This exact cross produced last year’s Kentucky Derby winner, Mage. There are few more proven pedigree angles than that.

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, 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 Santa Anita 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.

Puca won four of 17 starts, led by the Steve Pini Memorial Stakes at Suffolk Downs at about one mile and 70 yards on the turf. All three of her other wins came at 1 1/16 miles.

Mage was Puca’s second foal, and Dornoch was her third. Her first foal was the Gun Runner filly Gunning, who has won three of nine starts. Gunning broke her maiden at age two in a Churchill Downs maiden special weight going seven furlongs, and she stayed sprinting for her future victories at 5 ½ and six furlongs. She was also stakes-placed going as far as a mile.

#2 - Sierra Leone
Gun Runner x Heavenly Love, by Malibu Moon

Gun Runner has quickly become one of the most prominent names in the North American stallion ranks, getting a classic winner in his debut crop when Early Voting won the 2022 Preakness Stakes.

Gun Runner’s average progeny winning distance of 7.4 furlongs is in the top third among Kentucky Derby sires, and his runners have had no issue getting two turns in the past, led by Grade 1-winning routers Echo Zulu, Taiba, Cyberknife, Society, and Locked.

His top-placing Kentucky Derby runner to date is Disarm, who finished fourth in last year’s race.

On his own accord, Gun Runner was a six-time Grade 1 winner, including the 2017 Breeders’ Cup Classic at 1 ¼ miles, after which he earned the Eclipse Award as Horse of the Year. He finished third when he ran in the 2016 Kentucky Derby.

Heavenly Love won two of 10 career starts, with both of her victories coming at age two. She broke her maiden going six furlongs over the turf at Kentucky Downs in her second start, then she won the G1 Alcibiades Stakes on the dirt main track at Keeneland at a distance of 1 1/16 miles. Her most notable effort at age three was a third-place finish in the G3 Regret Stakes at Churchill Downs, running 1 1/8 miles over the turf.

Sierra Leone is Heavenly Love’s first winner from two foals to race. Her first foal, an Uncle Mo colt named Monegasque, went unplaced in a pair of Gulfstream Park maiden special weight races going a mile or longer.

#3 - Mystik Dan 
Goldencents x Ma’am, by Colonel John

Goldencents is a two-time winner of the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, but he was definitely proven going longer, notching wins in the G1 Santa Anita Derby (1 1/8 miles) and the G3 Delta Downs Jackpot Stakes (1 1/16 miles).

His runners have typically trended toward sprint races, and his average progeny winning distance of 6.49 furlongs is the second-lowest among this year’s class of Kentucky Derby sires. However, his most successful runners have done their best work around two turns.

Goldencents’ lone Grade 1 winner is Going to Vegas, who is a two-time winner of the G1 Rodeo Drive Stakes going 1 ¼ miles on the turf. She also won the G2 John C. Mabee Stakes (1 1/8 miles) and the G3 Santa Ana Stakes (1 ¼ miles).

His two Grade 2 winners include By My Standards, who became Goldencents’ highest-finishing Kentucky Derby runner when he finished 11^th in 2019. By My Standards entered the race off a victory in the G2 Louisiana Derby (1 1/8 miles), and he later tallied Grade 2 wins in the New Orleans Classic Stakes (1 1/8 miles), Oaklawn Handicap (1 1/8 miles) and Alysheba Stakes (1 1/16 miles). Phantom Currency won the G2 Mac Diarmida Stakes going 1 3/8 miles on the turf.

Ma’am won four of 23 career starts, graduating in a one-mile maiden claiming race on the dirt at Oaklawn Park, and later taking a one-mile turf claiming race at Ellis Park. She later won a 1 1/16-mile turf claiming race at Churchill Downs, and she finally returned to Oaklawn Park to win a 1 1/16-mile allowance race.

Mystik Dan is Ma’am’s first foal.

#4 - Catching Freedom
Constitution x Catch My Drift, by Pioneerof the Nile

Constitution was proven at 1 1/8 miles, notching Grade 1 victories in the Florida Derby and Donn Handicap, both at Gulfstream Park.

His runners have won at an average distance of 7.15 furlongs, which is a middle-of-the-pack figure among this year’s class of Kentucky Derby sires. However, he has plenty of proof that he can get a horse around two turns, led by Tiz the Law, who tallied Grade 1 wins in the Florida Derby (1 1/8 miles), the COVID-19-shortened Belmont Stakes (1 1/8 miles) and the Travers Stakes (1 ¼ miles).

Constitution has 11 total Grade/Group 1 winners, also including Americanrevolution, who won the G1 Cigar Mile Handicap and ran second in the G1 Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes at 1 ¼ miles.

Constitution’s top Derby finisher came in 2020, when Tiz the Law was a close second behind eventual Horse of the Year Authentic.

Catch My Drift won four of 10 career starts, highlighted by a victory in the Summer Colony Stakes, racing 1 1/8 miles. Her three other wins came at one mile and 70 yards. Also of note, Catch My Drift finished in the money in the G1 Beldame Stakes (1 1/8 miles) and the G3 Turnback the Alarm Handicap (1 1/16 miles).

All three of her foals to race are winners and black type earners. Her first runner was the Into Mischief gelding Strava, who won on debut as a juvenile in a six-furlong Keeneland maiden special weight. All three of his ensuing wins in later campaigns came at a mile, and he is stakes-placed at the same distance.

Bishop’s Bay, a colt by Uncle Mo, won his first two career starts in the early months of his 3-year-old campaign, going six furlongs, then one mile and 70 yards. He then graduated to graded stakes competition, where he earned runner-up placings in the Peter Pan Stakes and the Ohio Derby, both Grade 3 races at 1 1/8 miles.