Origins: The Belmont Stakes, presented by Three Chimneys

[Wandering Eyes]

With entrants ranging from a $2.3-million sales-topping yearling to a homebred, the $2-million GI Belmont S. turns a new page in 2024 with its first running at Saratoga Race Course. Here we take a look at the origins of all 10 entrants in the Classic, including the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Preakness S. winners.

1). Seize the Grey (Arrogate–Smart Shopping, by Smart Strike)

Mill Ridge's Headley Bell purchased Shop Again, second dam of Seize the Grey, for $450,000 at the 2007 Keeneland November sale on behalf of Tolie Otto, who nurtured the family through two generations until she passed away in 2023. Now her daughter, Audie, is carrying on the family's Jamm Ltd., the name under which Seize the Grey was bred at Mill Ridge. Shop Again, a half to GISW Miss Shop and GSW/MGISP Trappe Shot, produced GISW Power Broker and Aqueduct SW Fierce Boots in addition to Smart Shopping. It was Bell who recommended the Arrogate mating that resulted in Seize the Grey and the Mill Ridge consignment which sold the Preakness winner as a yearling at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale to MyRacehorse for $300,000. Juddmonte's late Arrogate, who left just three crops before his premature passing, sired last year's Belmont winner in Arcangelo. The mare, one of three Smart Strike daughters with a runner in the field, foaled a Life Is Good filly Feb. 22.

2). Resilience (Into Mischief–Meadowsweet, by Smart Strike)

The story of Resilience, who was bred by Pam and Marty Wygod, is a story of relationships. The Wygod family, who lost family patriarch Marty in April, purchased Tranquility Lake, granddam of the GII Wood Memorial winner, as a $250,000 Keeneland July yearling in 1996 and campaigned her to multiple Grade I scores. Wygod gave Resilience to his daughter, Emily Bushnell, before his passing. Bushnell is partners in the horse with Ric Waldman, who has been working with the Wygod family since he managed the great Storm Cat. The Wygods had gotten to know Waldman through his work with Storm Cat and bred Tranquility Lake to the stallion, resulting in GISW Courageous Cat and After Market out of the mare. Meadowsweet, dam of Resilience, foaled a full-sister to the bay Feb. 29. Spendthrift's five-time leading sire Into Mischief has had two Derby winners and is looking for his first Belmont winner.

3). Mystik Dan (Goldencents–Ma'am, by Colonel John)

The lone official homebred in the Belmont field, Mystik Dan is a family affair. He was bred in Kentucky by Lance Gasaway and his relatives Brent, Sharilyn, Logan, and Lauren Gasaway of 4G Racing, as well as Daniel Hamby, from a mare whose sole trip through a sales ring was as a $9,500 RNA at the 2014 Keeneland September sale. The Gasaways, who have since taken on partner Valley View Farm in the horse, have been with conditioner Kenny McPeek for several years–he originally trained Ma'am for them–and he was the one who recommended the mating to Spendthrift's Goldencents for her first foal. After ensuing foals by Unified and Knicks Go, the mare produced a colt by 2020 GII Louisiana Derby winner Wells Bayou, who was part-owned by the Gasaways, on Apr. 1 in Oklahoma for the same team. Mystik Dan's granddam is a winning full-sister to 2001 GI Hollywood Futurity and GII Lane's End Breeders' Futurity winner Siphonic (Siphon {Brz}) and a half-sister to the dam of GISW Laragh (Tapit) and MGSW & MGISP Summer Front (War Front).

4). The Wine Steward (Vino Rosso–Call to Service, by To Honor and Serve)

Spendthrift's first-crop sophomore stallion Vino Rosso gets his first Classic contender with a horse that has roots close to home. Although a New York-bred, The Wine Steward was bred by Spendthrift's Kentucky-based stallion sales manager Mark Toothaker in partnership with Sequel Thoroughbreds LLC and Lakland Farm. The mare was bought by Becky Thomas, who has historically been a major part of both Sequel and Lakland, for $110,000 while carrying The Wine Steward in utero at the 2020 Keeneland November sale. Thomas's Sequel Bloodstock then consigned The Wine Steward to last year's OBS March sale, where he brought $340,000 from trainer Mike Maker (he was originally sold as a Fasig-Tipton New York-bred yearling for $70,000). The mare produced a Justify colt May 9 for Coteau Grove Farms after that entity bought her for $350,000 at Keeneland January in 2022. Call to Service did not win a race herself, but she's a half to GSW & GISP Giant Game, to MGSW & GISP Isotherm, to GISP Gio Game, and to the dam of MGSW Skelly.

Preakness winner Seize the Grey | Sarah Andrew

5). Antiquarian (Preservationist–Lifetime Memory, by Istan)

The GIII Peter Pan S. winner has the fingerprints of former Kentucky Governor Brereton C. Jones on top and bottom. The late patriarch of Airdrie Stud bred Antiquarian from his sire's first crop after being instrumental in bringing GI Woodward S. winner Preservationist to stand at Airdrie. Jones also bred Antiquarian's dam, Lifetime Memory, as well as her dam and granddam. Remarkably, like Antiquarian himself, all were by stallions standing in Airdrie's stud barn. Airdrie consigned Antiquarian to the 2022 Keeneland September sale, where he fetched $250,000 from Centennial Farms, who raced Preservationist. It doesn't come much more full circle than that: Antiquarian was bred, raised, and sold by Airdrie, who stands his sire, and bought and is raced by Centennial, who campaigned his sire. Antiquarian's dam, who is a half to 2020 GII Lake Placid S. winner Speaktomeofsummer, most recently produced a Happy Saver colt May 14, three days after the Peter Pan.

 6). Dornoch (Good Magic–Puca, by Big Brown)

A full-brother to 2023 Derby winner Mage, Dornoch was bred by Grandview Equine. The principal of Grandview Equine is Robert Clay, whose fantastic success in the sport was profiled by Chris McGrath in the days before Mage won the Derby last year. Clay had purchased 2014 'TDN Rising Star' Puca for $475,000 at the 2018 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky November sale and resold her last November at Keeneland, where she originally RNA'd at $2.8 million. New Thoroughbred investor John Stewart, who has made a major splash in the industry, picked her up post-sale from the Case Clay consignment for $2.9 million. She produced a full-brother to Mage and Dornoch at Stewart's Resolute Farm Apr. 4. Puca, a half to GISW Finnegans Wake, also has unraced 2-year-old Baeza (McKinzie), who sold to Mayberry Farm for $1.2 million at Keeneland September. That's the same sale Dornoch sold at in 2022 when he brought $325,000 from the Runnymede Farm consignment. Dornoch is by Hill n' Dale's Good Magic, a son of Curlin who was the leading first-crop sire of 2022 and added a Derby winner the next year.

7). Protective (Medaglia d'Oro–Grace Hall, by Empire Maker)

Winner of the 2011 GI Spinaway S., Grace Hall went through the Fasig-Tipton November ring in 2012, where she brought $3.2 million from Reynolds Bell, Jr. Bell frequently signs the sales tickets for Jon Clay's Alpha Delta Stables, LLC, who bred Protective in Kentucky. Protective made a trip to the sales as a yearling at Keeneland September, where he was part of the Lane's End consignment and fetched $250,000 from Repole Stable. Grace Hall, who traces tail-female to 1924 champion 3-year-old filly and Preakness winner Nellie Morse, later a foundation mare for Calumet Farm, produced an Apr. 4 colt by Into Mischief for Alpha Delta. Protective, third in both the Wood Memorial and Peter Pan, is by Darley's extraordinary sire Medaglia d'Oro, who won the 2002 GI Travers S. over this track and was second in that year's Belmont.

Honor Marie | Sarah Andrew

8). Honor Marie (Honor Code–Dame Marie, by Smart Strike)

Named for a combination of his sire and dam's names as well as for one of the nine grandchildren of co-owners Kerry and Alan Ribble, Honor Marie was bred by Kentucky businessman Royce Pulliam. Pulliam used Taylor Made to consign the eventual GII Kentucky Jockey Club S. winner to Keeneland September, where he hammered for $40,000 to buyer In the Trees. Honor Code, who originally stood at Lane's End, embarked on a new chapter for 2024 at Yushun Stallion Station in Japan. Dame Marie, who also produced Keeneland's 2020 GII Bourbon S. runner-up Abarta (Into Mischief), has an Apr. 28 colt by Mandaloun. Her Medaglia d'Oro 2-year-old sold at last year's Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale for $385,000 to Fergus Galvin. She is a half-sister to 2004 G1 St. Leger winner Rule of Law (Kingmambo).

9). Sierra Leone (Gun Runner–Heavenly Love, by Malibu Moon)

The $2.3-million topper of the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale, GI Blue Grass S. winner Sierra Leone is a poster child for both breeding the best to the best and the reward that can come from competing for top sales prospects. John Oxley purchased second dam Darling My Darling–out of GISW Roamin Rachel and a half to not-then-born Japanese Horse of the Year Zenno Rob Roy (Jpn)–for $300,000 in 1998 at Keeneland September. Under Oxley's wife Debby's name, the couple campaigned her to two black-type wins at Keeneland as well as two Grade I placings at Belmont. It is in the breeding shed where she's really excelled, however, as the dam of GISW Heavenly Love and GSW Forever Darling. The former would produce 'TDN Rising Star' Sierra Leone, bred by Debby and consigned by Gainesway to Saratoga. In a remarkable twist, the latter would produce Forever Young (Jpn) (Real Steel {Jpn}), the Japanese globetrotter whose only career loss in four countries was a nose third to Sierra Leone in the Kentucky Derby last month. Heavenly Love produced a full-sister to Sierra Leone for Debby Oxley Feb. 11. Three Chimney's Horse of the Year and sire sensation Gun Runner already has one Classic winner in his three crops to race.

10). Mindframe (Constitution–Walk of Stars, by Street Sense)

Maryland-born 'TDN Rising Star' Mindframe was bred by R. Larry Johnson, whose decades in the sport were recently profiled in TDN. He purchased Mindframe's fourth dam, Ran's Chick, in 1978 at Timonium for $2,400 and has developed the family, which also includes May 17 GII Black-Eyed Susan S. third Call Another Play (Audible), ever since. Johnson used Betz Thoroughbreds to consign Mindframe to Keeneland September, where the gavel dropped at $600,000 when selling to Repole Stables and St. Elias Stables. Constitution has developed into one of the sport's elite stallions for WinStar and previously won the Belmont as a sire with son Tiz the Law in the COVID year of 2020, the last time the distance was shortened from its traditional 1 1/2 miles. Mindframe's dam and granddam both won black-type events at Charles Town. The most recent produce for Walk of Stars is a juvenile colt by Maclean's Music named Lonesome Road.

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