Kentucky Derby pedigree profile: Roadster

Roadster
Quality Road - Ghost Dancing, by Silver Ghost
Bred in Kentucky by Stone Farm ($525,000 purchase by Speedway Stables at Keeneland September yearling sale)

The Kentucky Derby sparks an annual game of musical jockeys, and the most highly anticipated decision this year belonged to Hall of Famer Mike Smith, who had been piloting both Arkansas Derby winner Omaha Beach and Santa Anita Derby winner Roadster. Smith chose to stay with Omaha Beach, putting Florent Geroux in the irons on Roadster, a gray colt who is helping to continue the rapid ascent for sire Quality Road, North America’s leading general sire. One day before Roadster starts in the Kentucky Derby, Quality Road will be represented by early Kentucky Oaks favorite Bellafina.

Quality Road, by Elusive Quality, earned seven graded stakes victories, with Grade 1 scores in the 2009 Florida Derby and 2010 Donn Handicap, Metropolitan Handicap, and Woodward Stakes. Along the way, he recorded six Beyer Speed Figures of 110 or higher, highlighted by a stellar 121 in the Donn.

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Quality Road was the leading freshman sire of 2010, led by globe-trotting Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner Hootenanny, but it’s in the last several years that he has truly reached elite status. The stallion’s runners since 2017 include Kentucky Oaks winner and Eclipse Award champion Abel Tasman, Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner and Eclipse champion Caledonia Road, Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile and Pegasus World Cup winner City of Light, and Grade 1 winners Bellafina, Roadster, Spring Quality, and Salty.

Those runners have all scored around two turns. Even City of Light, who had brilliant miler speed, could stretch out, defeating champion Accelerate in the Oaklawn Handicap and the Pegasus.

Ghost Dancing, whose granddam is multiple Grade 1 winner Dance Teacher, won the Oakley Stakes at 5 1/2 furlongs on turf. However, she has been a stamina influence as a broodmare. Her son Ascend won the Grade 1 Manhattan Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on turf, while her son Moro Tap finished third in the Grade 3 Louisville Handicap at 1 1/2 miles on the turf.