Kentucky Derby pedigree profile: Chip Honcho

Chip Honcho

Colt by Connect – Miss My Rose, by Magician

Bred in Kentucky by Venneri Racing and Tony Fanticola ($210,000 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky summer yearling purchase by Lee Ackerley)

Two-time Horse of the Year Curlin and several of his sons are powerful stamina influences who have been prominent in American classic bloodlines for more than a decade. Connect, another son of Curlin, has Grade 2 Risen Star runner-up Chip Honcho looking to punch his Kentucky Derby ticket in Saturday’s Louisiana Derby – and Connect’s sireline will need to help balance out a sprint-type female family.

Curlin won the 2007 Preakness, sandwiched between a third in the Kentucky Derby and a runner-up effort in the Belmont. His other major classic-distance victories include the 2007 Breeders’ Cup Classic and 2008 Dubai World Cup.

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Curlin has passed on his stamina as a sire, with 2013 Belmont winner Palace Malice, 2016 Preakness winner Exaggerator, and 2025 Preakness winner Journalism among his noteworthy runners, along with several other classic-placed progeny. Those include Good Magic, second in the 2018 Derby and now the sire of 2023 Derby winner Mage and 2024 Belmont winner Dornoch, and 2015 Belmont third-place finisher Keen Ice, sire of 2022 Derby winner Rich Strike.

Connect won 6 of 8 career starts, including the Pennsylvania Derby when it was a Grade 2 event and the Grade 1 Cigar Mile. The average winning distance of his progeny is about 7.2 furlongs. Distances over seven furlongs are relatively solid indicators of route capability in the United States, with its preponderance of sprint races.

Connect’s runners are led by multimillionaire Rattle N Roll, whose 10 stakes wins include the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity and Grade 2 Clark. Last year, Connect’s daughter Forever After All was a multiple graded stakes winner at 1 1/2 miles on turf.

Chip Honcho’s dam, Miss My Rose, by Irish classic winner and Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Magician, officially won both of her starts at age 3 in a brief career. After a six-furlong debut win, she crossed the line second by three-quarters of a length in the Angels Flight at seven furlongs and was promoted to first by a disqualification.

Miss My Rose’s first two starters are both winners. Chip Honcho won the Gun Runner and was fourth in the Grade 3 Lecomte before finishing second in the Risen Star to current Derby Watch favorite Paladin. Chip Honcho is joined by Red Rose Rockin, a winner at up to a mile on turf.

Miss My Rose is a half-sister to the stakes-winning turf sprinter Whiskey and Rye.

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