Kentucky Derby pedigree profiles: Dortmund

Dortmund
Big Brown – Our Josephina, by Tale of the Cat
(Bred in Kentucky by Emilie Gerlinde Fojan; $140,000 purchase by Donato Lanni, agent, at 2014 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-year-olds in training sale)

Champion Big Brown was a dual classic winner, but was also a stakes winner on turf. Many of his top runners have excelled on that latter surface, including Darwin, a Group 3 winner and Group 1 placed in Europe. Big Brown now finally has his American classics contender in Dortmund, his first graded stakes winner on dirt.

Dortmund is unbeaten in four career starts, including a pair of graded stakes victories at 1 1/16 miles. He posted a narrow victory in the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Futurity in December, then re-rallied to win the Grade 3 Robert B. Lewis Stakes on Feb. 7. The colt also posted a dominant victory in an optional-claiming event over a mile at Churchill Downs. With multiple route wins, the colt is already outrunning his pedigree, which appears slanted toward speed.

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Despite his own classic ability, Big Brown’s progeny have an average winning distance of less than a mile; meanwhile, Our Josephina also did her best running at sprint distances. The mare, unraced as a juvenile, scored all her wins at seven furlongs or less, including a romp in the Ohio Valley Handicap at six furlongs. She also finished second in the Grade 3 Chicago Breeders’ Cup Handicap at seven furlongs. Our Josephina is the dam of four winners from five starters; in addition to Dortmund, only one other, Joseph the Catfish, has won at a mile, while the other two are pure sprinters.

Dortmund is the most accomplished runner in his immediate family, but does have class and stamina further back on the page. His third dam is champion juvenile filly Lakeville Miss, whose four Grade 1 wins include the Coaching Club American Oaks. Her foals include Grade 1 winner Mogambo and Grade 1-placed stakes producer Sea Breezer.