Kentucky Derby pedigree profile: Rock Your World

Rock Your World

Candy Ride – Charm the Maker, by Empire Maker

Bred in Kentucky by Ron McAnally and Deborah McAnally ($650,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase by Sapphire Stable)

The final stretch of Kentucky Derby preps represents crunch time for earning points to make the starting gate – particularly for lightly raced horses who may just be stepping up to the elite level. One of those is Rock Your World, who earned 100 points and a guaranteed spot in the field with his Santa Anita Derby victory last Saturday. Rock Your World, whose family is geared toward stamina on the turf, moved from turf to dirt and stretched out to 1 1/8 miles for that key win.

A hefty dose of Rock Your World’s dirt ability likely comes from sire Candy Ride. The stallion won the Pacific Classic in track-record time for the classic 1 1/4-mile distance at Del Mar, and while he is a versatile sire, that type of stamina on the main track has certainly been seen from his offspring. Candy Ride is the sire of Horse of the Year Gun Runner and fellow Eclipse Award champion Shared Belief, both winners at 1 1/4 miles. He is also the sire of Eclipse champion Game Winner, who won graded stakes at up to 1 1/8 miles, and Misremembered, winner of the Santa Anita Handicap at 1 1/4 miles.

Charm the Maker won the Sharp Cat Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on synthetic as a juvenile, and placed in a pair of Grade 1 stakes that season, beaten a length when third in the Oak Leaf and a half-length when second in the Starlet. Later in her career, she won the Adoration Stakes at a mile on synthetic. She is the dam of two winners from as many starters, with Rock Your World joining full sister She’s Our Charm, who was third in the Grade 3 Robert J. Frankel Stakes, beaten less than a length, at 1 1/8 miles on turf last December.

Charm the Maker is a half-sister to Liam the Charmer, a graded stakes winner at 1 1/4 miles on turf. Their dam, Charm the Giant, and second dam, Olympic Charmer, are both graded stakes winners at a mile or longer, with Olympic Charmer winning both of her graded stakes on dirt.

– Nicole Russo