The Breeders’ Cup is almost upon us, and once again, many of the top contenders are Secretariat descendants. Of course.
The leading Horse of the Year candidate, Sovereignty, is by Into Mischief, whose male line goes back to Storm Cat. Sovereignty’s broodmare sire is the A.P. Indy stallion Bernardini.
Also heading for the Breeders’ Cup Classic is Fierceness, the 2023 Juvenile winner who won the Pacific Classic at the end of August. This colt’s sire City of Light has a Gone West/Dehere cross, and his broodmare sire is Stay Thirsty, also by Bernardini.
Secretariat’s presence in the pedigrees of Breeders’ Cup winners over the years is a recurring theme, as his key grandsons stay prominent and often appear more than once.
In the past 25 years, there were 304 Breeders’ Cup races, and 147 of them (48%) were won by Secretariat descendants. In the last 15 years, that percentage increases to 59% of 208 races; last 10 years, 66% of 137 races; and last five years, 70% of 70 races.
Secretariat clearly has staying power beyond even some of the better stallions of his day. That’s quite an accomplishment for a stallion many people often dismissed.
Chief’s Crown started it all
Three of Secretariat’s top sire grandsons were all prominent in Breeders’ Cup races themselves. In fact, the first Breeders’ Cup race ever run was won by a grandson of Secretariat.
Chief’s Crown capped an outstanding year by winning the 1984 Breeder’s Cup Juvenile as the odds-on favorite, securing the divisional championship. Forty years later, Chief’s Crown is found in the pedigree of 2024 Juvenile Turf winner Henri Matisse – he’s a great-grandsire of that colt’s sire Wootton Bassett.
Chief’s Crown was out of the stakes-winning Secretariat mare Six Crowns. After his championship juvenile year, he ran exceptionally well at three, but losses in the three Triple Crown races gave top honors to Kentucky Derby winner Spend A Buck.
He became a successful sire, starting as the leading first-crop sire of 1989. He sired 1997 Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Chief Bearhart, a two-time Horse of the Year in Canada who also took the Eclipse Award as champion turf male of 1997.
Despite an early death at age 15, Chief’s Crown remains in pedigrees today, with a strong European presence thanks to his top son Grand Lodge and, increasingly, his connection to Wootton Bassett. Ten Breeders’ Cup winners descend from Chief’s Crown, half of them in just the past five years (Juvenile Turf winners Henri Matisse and Unquestionable, Juvenile Turf Sprint winner Big Evs, Juvenile Filles Turf winner Aunt Pearl, and Filly & Mare Turf winner Audarya). All of these were bred in Europe.
Fine Spirit follows the Chief
About a half hour after Chief’s Crown’s victory in the Juvenile, Secretariat had two daughters in the inaugural Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. One, Fiesta Lady, was part of a two-horse entry for trainer D. Wayne Lukas. She had already won the G1 Matron and the G2 Del Mar Debutante, and her entry with G1 winner Tiltalating went off as the bettors’ third choice.
Most of the 11-horse field in the Juvenile Fillies were already experienced runners; the race favorite was Canadian-based Bessarabian, who sported a five-race win streak. Perhaps a surprising second choice was the most lightly-raced entrant – a chestnut daughter of Secretariat named Fine Spirit, racing for John and Betty Mabee’s Golden Eagle Farm.
After a second in her first start on October 7, 1984, Fine Spirit won her next race in spectacular fashion. Under jockey Chris McCarron, she sped six furlongs at Santa Anita in 1:09⅗, winning by 13 lengths.
Two weeks later in the Juvenile Fillies, she was second for most of the race and was less than three lengths behind the winner at the finish. It was by far the best effort by any of the race’s favorites.
She technically finished fourth, but was elevated to third upon the disqualification of Fran’s Valentine, who had crossed the finish line first. Outstandingly was named the winner.
Fine Spirit was the morning-line favorite in her next race, the Hollywood Starlet on December 2. Her inexperience went against her in the big field of 15, as she was in tight quarters in the early running. It was all McCarron could do to keep her from going down, and she checked in last.
The filly returned from that troubled start more than five months later, and a shortened campaign produced three wins in seven starts. Her only two poor performances came on the turf. Fine Spirt finally did get a well-deserved stakes win in the Cascapedia Handicap at Santa Anita on October 23, not quite a year after her dominating maiden win.
Storm Cat power
In the second Breeders’ Cup, another Secretariat grandson almost made it two in a row for Juvenile success. Storm Cat, out of the Secretariat mare Terlingua, had already won the G1 Young America at The Meadowlands.
Second choice behind even-money favorite Mogambo, Storm Cat was forwardly-placed early, and had a clear lead heading into the stretch. Closing with a rush from the back, however, was Tasso, who just nipped Storm Cat by a nose at the wire.
Bone chips sidelined Storm Cat for almost a year, and although he returned a winner, a four-year-old campaign was scrubbed. At Overbrook Farm, Storm Cat became one of the greatest stallions of all time.
He sired Breeders’ Cup winners Desert Stormer (Sprint), Cat Thief (Classic), Storm Flag Flying (Juvenile Fillies), Sweet Catomine (Juvenile Fillies) and Life Is Sweet (Distaff). Storm Cat is also the broodmare sire of Breeders’ Cup winners Folklore, Speightstown, Pounced, Hightail and Loves Only You.
He is in the pedigree of 76 different Breeders’ Cup winners, seven of them multiple-race winners (Beholder, Elite Power, Goldencents, Monomoy Girl, Stephanie’s Kitten, Stormy Liberal and Wise Dan).
Storm Cat’s sire line remains vibrant through many different stallions – nearly 30 of them populate the pedigrees of Breeders’ Cup winners.
More Secretariat presence
Also participating in that 1985 Breeders’ Cup were a son and daughter of Secretariat himself. Son Pancho Villa was coupled with Mt. Livermore in the Sprint; the entry of the two Lukas trainees went off as the favorite. He lagged behind early in the race, then made a mild rally to finish fifth, beaten less than four lengths by winner Precisionist.
Then there was Lady’s Secret. She was part of another Lukas entry, this time a powerhouse group of three led by three-year-old Lady’s Secret (riding an eight-race winning streak), four-year-old Life’s Magic (the previous year’s champion three-year-old), and four-year-old stakes winner Alabama Nana. Lady’s Secret had an easy lead for a mile before Life’s Magic reeled her in entering the stretch run.
The diminutive gray filly was not to be denied in 1986, as Lady’s Secret wrapped her amazing season with a Breeders’ Cup Distaff victory that gave her a Horse of the Year title. She was the only Secretariat to win a Breeders’ Cup race, although two more tried after that.
Hot Date was a longshot maiden in the 1990 Juvenile; he finished eighth. Finally, Tinners Way, a multiple G1 winner in Secretariat’s last crop, went in the 1995 Breeders’ Cup Classic, even though trainer Bobby Frankel knew the chestnut colt did not like Belmont Park. He finished far back, although no one was going to beat the great Cigar that day.
A.P. Indy takes the Classic
In 1992, A.P. Indy wore the Breeders’ Cup Classic crown. Out of the Secretariat mare Weekend Surprise, A.P. Indy won the G1 Hollywood Futurity at two, and his Belmont Stakes win the next year capped a seven-race winning streak. He returned that fall to win the Classic, the final race of his Horse of the Year campaign.
Retired to stud at Lane’s End Farm, A.P. Indy became a sire phenomenon, with particular strengths as a general sire and broodmare sire. He sired two Breeders’ Cup winners, Eldaafer (Marathon) and Tempera (Juvenile Fillies), and is the broodmare sire of three more: Royal Delta, Game Winner and Malathaat.
To date, A.P. Indy is in the pedigree of 36 different Breeders’ Cup winners, three of them multiple-race winners (Cody’s Wish, Monomoy Girl and Royal Delta).
Gone West makes his mark
Although he never raced in the Breeders’ Cup, Gone West is coming on strong as a pedigree influence. That comes heavily through his sons Elusive Quality and Speightstown in the US and champion Zafonic in Europe.
A son of the Secretariat mare Secrettame, Gone West sired two-time Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Da Hoss, Turf winner Johar and Sprint winner Speightstown. He’s the broodmare sire of Juvenile Fillies winner Awesome Feather.
He’s in the pedigree of 40 different Breeders’ Cup winners, including two that won two races each (Da Hoss, plus Roy H in the Sprint).
… and there’s more
Dehere became another successful stallion out of a Secretariat mare, although he didn’t win his own attempt at the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile in 1993.
The son of Sister Dot is the broodmare sire of two-time Sprint winner Midnight Lute, Dirt Mile winner City Of Light, and Juvenile Fillies Turf winner More Than Real. Dehere also figures prominently in the pedigrees of the aforementioned Fierceness, Juvenile Turf winner Structor, and Juvenile Fillies winner Take Charge Brandi.
Even Secreto, whose Epsom Derby victory in 1984 was the very first G1 win for Secretariat as a broodmare sire (his dam was Betty’s Secret), is an ancestor of two Breeders’ Cup winners. The first was Trinniberg in the 2012 Breeders’ Cup Sprint; many years later, the globe-trotting Auguste Rodin took the Breeders’ Cup Turf.
Beyond these grandsons, there are other pockets of Secretariat success among Breeders’ Cup winners. A.P. Indy’s half-brother Summer Squall sired Juvenile Fillies winner Storm Song and was the broodmare sire of Juvenile winner Stevie Wonderboy.
As if A.P. Indy and Summer Squall weren’t enough for their dam Weekend Surprise, that superlative Secretariat mare had several other Breeders’ Cup winners among her descendants.
Her son Honor Grades sired Distaff winner Adoration. Her daughter Weekend Storm produced Mile winner Court Vision, who in turn sired Juvenile winner Storm The Court.
Weekend Storm also produced Kipling, the sire of Mile winner Kip Deville, and another daughter, Welcome Surprise, was the dam of Mr. Sekiguchi, the broodmare sire of Juvenile Fillies winner British Idiom.
Breeders’ Cup winners Flanders, Perfect Shirl, Wise Dan, Liam’s Map, Belvoir Bay and Wonder Wheel trace to other Secretariat mares, while Wuheida’s second dam is by Lion Cavern, a full-brother to Gone West.
In total, since the Breeders’ Cup began, Secretariat descendants have won 157 of the 417 races, most of them over the past 25 years. Adjusting for repeat winners, these races were won by 142 different horses.
The common denominator of 140 of them is that their pedigrees contain one or more Secretariat mares. Of the two others, one was Lady’s Secret.
The other is the only descendant of a son of Secretariat to win a Breeders’ Cup race – and he won two. That was Knicks Go, who won the 2020 Dirt Mile and the 2021 Classic, the latter cementing his Horse of the Year title.
The third dam of Knicks Go is Aube d’Or, a stakes-winning daughter of Medaille d’Or – a second-crop Secretariat colt who was the 1978 champion two-year-old colt in Canada.
Medaille d’Or was one of Secretariat’s better stallion sons, who likely would have had much more of an impact if he hadn’t died from a freak paddock accident when he was just 10 years old.
It is inevitable that the 2025 Breeders’ Cup will pad the list of winning Secretariat descendants. The only question is by how much.
End of an era as Secretariat’s final son Maritime Traveler dies, aged 35
How Secretariat’s offspring contributed to the fabled career of D. Wayne Lukas
Kingston Rule: the son of Secretariat who ran the fastest Melbourne Cup ever
View the latest TRC Global Rankings for horses / jockeys / trainers / sires