Distorted Humor, a sire who helped build WinStar Farm into one of Kentucky’s elite stallion operations, was euthanized on Jan. 10 due to the infirmities of old age. The stallion, who continued to reside at WinStar as a pensioner following his long career, was 33. His legacy will live on, not only with a handful of active runners and some solid sons at stud, but as a phenomenal broodmare sire. “It’s a deeply sad day for all of us at WinStar Farm to lose a generational sire like Distorted Humor,” Elliott Walden, president, CEO, and racing manager of WinStar, said in a release. “We take solace in the legacy he leaves behind. His sons and daughters have won on the biggest stages, and his daughters are proving to be exceptional producers. His impact on the breed is undeniable and will be felt for generations to come.” Distorted Humor, by Forty Niner, was bred in Kentucky by Charles Nuckols Jr. and sons; he was initially raced by R.L. Reineman and trainer Phil Gleaves. Prestonwood Farms bought in following his debut win, and later transferred him to Walden. Distorted Humor, who was best as a sprinter-miler, won the Grade 3 Salvator Mile at Monmouth Park in 1997; the Grade 2 Commonwealth and Grade 2 Churchill Downs the following spring in Kentucky; and the Grade 3 Ack Ack, also at Churchill , later in the 1998 season. He placed in six other graded stakes, including a third in the Grade 1 Cigar Mile in 1998 in his career finale. He also stretched out somewhat successfully for some of his graded placings – including a third in the Grade 2 Philip H. Iselin in summer 1997 at Monmouth, behind track-record-setting Formal Gold and the great Skip Away. Distorted Humor concluded his racing career with a record of 23-8-5-3 and earnings of $769,964. :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. Distorted Humor entered stud in 1999 at Prestonwood Farm. In 2000, business partners Kenny Troutt and Bill Casner purchased the farm, establishing WinStar. Casner later left the operation, with Troutt now the sole owner. Included in the purchase were Prestonwood stallions Distorted Humor, Groovy, Kris S., and Victory Gallop – the latter was trained by Walden to win the 1998 Belmont Stakes before Walden retired from training to assume an executive role for WinStar. At the time of WinStar’s establishment, Distorted Humor’s first foals were just beginning to arrive, and he was the leading freshman sire of 2002. The following spring he achieved breakout classic success as the New York-bred Funny Cide won the 2003 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes; the popular gelding was third in the Belmont Stakes in his Triple Crown bid. Funny Cide, the Eclipse Award champion 3-year-old male that season, won nine stakes in his career, including the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup in 2004. Distorted Humor recorded a second American classic winner in 2010, when Drosselmeyer, who was purchased by WinStar as a yearling to race in its colors, won the Belmont Stakes. Drosselmeyer went on to win the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Classic, helping Distorted Humor finish among the North American leading general sires, one of multiple times in his career he checked in among the top three.  Distorted Humor was pensioned following the 2021 season. His final crop just turned 4. According to Equineline, he is the sire of 185 career stakes winners worldwide. Those include, in North America alone, Canadian champion female sprinter Hillaby. Also, Grade 1 winners Any Given Saturday, Awesome Humor, Bit of Whimsy, Boisterous, Commentator, Flower Alley, Fourty Niners Son, Hystericalady, Jimmy Creed, Joking, Restless Rider, Santin, and Varda. Internationally, he is the sire of Irish Group 1 winner and highweight Pathfork; additional European Group 1 winners Aesop's Fables and Cursory Glance; two-time Australian champion steeplechaser Some Are Bent; Australian Group 1 winner Rinky Dink; and Puerto Rican champion Don Dandy. Distorted Humor has been a useful sire of sires. Flower Alley sired dual classic winner and champion I’ll Have Another, while Maclean’s Music, with Cloud Computing, is also a classic sire, and is also represented by champion Jackie’s Warrior and Grade 1 winners Complexity and Drain the Clock. Jimmy Creed is a consistent Kentucky sire; Khozan leads Florida’s sire ranks; and Alternation sired Kentucky Oaks winner Serengeti Empress. However, it is as a broodmare sire that Distorted Humor has truly made his mark. According to Equineline statistics, his daughters have produced 106 stakes winner, led by champion and Hall of Famer Arrogate. He is also the broodmare sire, in the U.S. alone, of champion Citizen Bull and Grade 1 winners Ambaya, Arabian Lion, Art Collector, Book Review, Carrick, Constitution, Elate, Guarana, Life Is Good, Molly Morgan, New Money Honey, Patch Adams, Practical Joke, Rhetorical, Sandman, Takaful, and Tappan Street. Internationally, he achieved acclaim as the broodmare sire of three-time Hong Kong Horse of the Year Golden Sixty. Adding to his legacy, a number of Distorted Humor’s representatives out of his daughters have become successful sires, including Arrogate, who produced Belmont winner and champion Arcangelo, Preakness winner Seize the Grey, and Kentucky Oaks winner Secret Oath from just three crops. Constitution and Practical Joke both ranked among North America’s leading general sires of 2025, finishing sixth and seventh, respectively, by earnings. Constitution, who entered stud at WinStar in 2016 after racing for the farm in partnership, is the sire of classic winner Tiz the Law and a dozen other Grade/Group 1 winners. Tiz the Law is a successful young stallion at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud, while Constitution’s son Independence Hall was sixth on the 2025 freshman sire list. WinStar has also added Life Is Good, whose first foals race this year, and homebred Patch Adams, who debuts as a stallion in 2026. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.