Kentucky Derby pedigree profile: Vekoma

Vekoma

Candy Ride-Mona de Momma, by Speightstown

Bred in Kentucky by Alpha Delta Stables ($135,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase by R.A. Hill Stable)

It seems perhaps only a matter of time until Candy Ride sires a classic winner. The stallion turned in his own brilliant performance at the classic distance of 1 1/4 miles, and has sired top-quality offspring who have scored major wins at that distance.

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Candy Ride’s prospects eyeing this year’s Triple Crown series include not only unbeaten Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner and Eclipse Award divisional champion Game Winner, but unbeaten Vekoma, winner of the Grade 2 Nashua Stakes at Aqueduct last year. Vekoma, who runs Saturday in the Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream, will need to call upon Candy Ride’s stamina to balance out an immediate female family slanted heavily toward speed.

Candy Ride set a Del Mar track record going 1 1/4 miles in the Pacific Classic, defeating Medaglia d’Oro in his career finale. Candy Ride’s Horse of the Year Gun Runner captured the Breeders’ Cup Classic at 1 1/4 miles, and also finished a creditable third in the Kentucky Derby, giving way grudgingly after leading near the quarter pole. Champion Shared Belief scored Grade 1 victories at 1 ¼ miles in the Pacific Classic and Santa Anita Handicap, defeating California Chrome and Hoppertunity in the Big Cap. Another of Candy Ride’s sons, Misremembered, also won the Santa Anita Handicap.

Multiple graded stakes winner Mona de Momma, by sprint champion Speightstown, scored her biggest victory in the Grade 1 Humana Distaff at seven furlongs. Her only starter besides Vekoma is Bloody Point, a War Front mare who has not won beyond 6 1/2 furlongs.

Mona de Momma is a half-sister to multiple graded stakes-placed juvenile Jigadee, to stakes-placed Treasure Hunt, who set a track record sprinting at Sunland Park, and to stakes-placed sprinter Henry the King. Their dam, Society Gal, is a half sister to sire Mr. Greeley, a multiple graded stakes winner and runner-up in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. Society Gal is also a half sister to Majestic Legend, who was a stakes winner at nine furlongs on turf. Majestic Legend’s daughter Bedazzle produced juvenile champion and Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense. Those runners are something of an anomaly in the first three generations of Vekoma’s female family, which trends toward speed.