Kentucky Derby pedigree profile: Admire Daytona
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Admire Daytona
Colt by Drefong – Ice Pastel, by Shackleford
Bred in Japan by Northern Racing ($480,276 JRHA select weanling purchase by Junko Kondo)
If Japanese-bred Admire Daytona claims the automatic Kentucky Derby berth he earned by winning the Group 2 U.A.E. Derby – the finale of the European/Mideast Road to the Derby – the late nominee to the Triple Crown will bring in a pedigree full of names familiar to America.
Drefong is by the long-winded turf horse Gio Ponti, a multiple Eclipse Award champion, but earned his own championship as a dirt sprinter, securing the divisional Eclipse after winning the 2016 Breeders’ Cup Sprint.
Standing in Japan, he has sired runners with an average winning distance of 7.3 furlongs, a number that stacks up respectably against U.S. classic sires. For example, the late Smart Strike, sire of a pair of sons, Curlin and Lookin At Lucky, who won the Preakness Stakes and then became classic sires in their own right, had an average winning distance of 7.8 furlongs for his progeny. Curlin’s figure is 7.6 furlongs, while Lookin At Lucky’s is 7.0.
Overall, Drefong is the sire of five stakes winners and another 15 stakes-placed runners worldwide. His top runners include Geoglyph, winner of the Japanese 2000 Guineas, and Warp Speed, who was second in last year’s Melbourne Cup. His son Continuar, third in the 2023 U.A.E. Derby, was entered in the Kentucky Derby, but scratched the week of the race.
Ice Pastel, a Kentucky-born daughter of Preakness winner Shackleford, is the dam of four winners from as many starters – evenly split between one-turn and two-turn winners.
Ice Pastel’s granddam is Grade 1 winner Maplejinsky, the dam of champion and Hall of Famer Sky Beauty. Maplejinsky, in turn, is out of champion Gold Beauty, dam of English Horse of the Year Dayjur.
In addition to multiple other international standouts, this is the family of top-level runners in the U.S. such as Breeders’ Cup Distaff winner Pleasant Home and Grade 1 winners Guarana, Pine Island, Point of Entry, Tale of Ekati, and Violence.
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