When Kentucky Derby (G1) winner I’ll Have Another got up in the final strides of Saturday’s Preakness (G1), the influence of Distorted Humor’s sire line on the 2012 Triple Crown series will be one of the headlines as I’ll Have Another goes for the Belmont S. (G1) and racing immortality on June 9.
Distorted Humor, already a sire of a Derby-Preakness winner in 2003 with Funny Cide and 2010 Belmont S. winner Drosselmeyer, is the grandsire of I’ll Have Another, who is by his son Flower Alley.
Distorted Humor, who was the leading North America sire in terms of progeny earnings, stakes winners, and stakes horses in 2011, is the only active stallion who has sired winners of all three Triple Crown races and has sired 110 stakes winners from his first ten crops.
Ten-year-old Flower Alley proved himself on the racetrack before beginning his stud career, winning the 1 ¼-mile Travers (G1) as well as the Jim Dandy S. and Lane’s End S., both Grade 2s at nine furlongs.
While Flower Alley may be Distorted Humor’s hottest son at stud at the moment, the perennial top 10 stallion has several other offspring entering or off to promising stud careers.
Continuing the Distorted Humor legacy at WinStar Farm is Drosselmeyer, who was retired to stud as his sire’s all-time leading money earner following his 2011 Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) win. Standing this season for $17,500, Drosselmeyer has a full book of top-class mares for 2012.
Any Given Saturday, who defeated Horse of the Year Curlin in the Grade 1 Haskell I., is a top-15 second crop sire of 2012. First-crop sire Cowtown Cat, who was a $1.5 million sales topper as a 2-year-old, recently had his first 2-year-old winner and has been well-received by buyers at the spring juvenile auctions. He is currently Florida’s leading freshman sire. Regal Ransom entered stud this year after earning nearly $1.9 million and being named 3-year-old champion in Dubai and also winning the Grade 2 Super Derby in the U.S.
The future for Distorted Humor as a sire of sires also looks bright with the performance of his sons on the track in 2012. Alternation leads the handicap ranks with a perfect 4-for-4 season, including wins in the Pimlico Special (G2) and Oaklawn H. (G2). Five-year-old Endorsement, who came onto the scene with a big win in the 2010 Sunland Derby (G3), won the April 28 Lone Star Mile (G3) and was a close third to Alternation in the Pimlico Special. Finally, there is Boisterous, a turf specialist who has three graded stakes wins on the lawn.
