Pedigree analysis: Juddmonte holds strong hand with Commemorative in Juvenile Turf

Khalid Abdullah’s Juddmonte Farm has shone at the Breeders’ Cup, capturing four races with homebreds. The operation has an excellent chance to add another victory with Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf entrant Commemorative. The Zamindar colt is from the family of several high-class turf routers, including two of Juddmonte’s champions.

Commemorative won the Group 3 Autumn Stakes at Newmarket on Oct. 11, making him 2-for-2 at the Juvenile Turf’s mile distance. He is the first starter out of Revered, an Oasis Dream mare who won at seven furlongs and was placed at 10 furlongs. A daughter of English Broodmare of the Year Arrive, Revered is a full sister to Group 3 winner Visit, who finished third in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf. Revered is also a half-sister to Group 1 winner Promising Lead.

Arrive is a half-sister to a number of stakes winners or elite producers – most notably English Broodmare of the Year Hasili, dam of Juddmonte’s champions and Filly and Mare Turf winners Intercontinental and Banks Hill. Hasili also produced champion Champs Elysees, Grade 1 winners Cacique and Heat Haze, Group 2 winner and prominent sire Dansili, and Grade 3 winner Deluxe. It is the immediate family of turf champion and classic sire Leroidesanimaux.

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Commemorative gets an additional stamina boost from Zamindar, a leading sire whose top offspring include European Horse of the Year and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Zarkava and European champion and French 1000 Guineas winner Darjina.

Juvenile Turf entrants Hootenanny and War Envoy are both Kentucky-bred but have campaigned in Europe. Hootenanny, a stakes winner at Royal Ascot and second in the Group 1 Prix Morny in France, is from the first crop of the brilliant Quality Road. The colt’s dam was unplaced, while his unraced second dam produced Grade 1-winning sprinter Cat Moves. Hootenanny has not yet raced beyond six furlongs, and may find this distance just beyond his scope.

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Group 2-placed War Envoy is by popular young sire War Front – a solid middle-distance turf sire, although his offspring have also shown surface and distance versatility. War Envoy’s female family includes both dirt and turf influences; his third dam is Kentucky Derby winner Winning Colors.

Among a solid bench of U.S.-based contenders, Grade 3 Pilgrim Stakes winner Imperia sports a classy pedigree that may give him the best tools for the job. The Medaglia d’Oro colt is the first runner out of the versatile Cocoa Beach, a Grade 1 winner on both turf and dirt who finished a good second to Zenyatta in the 2008 Ladies Classic over what was then Santa Anita’s synthetic main track. The Doneraile Court mare turned in her best efforts from a mile to nine furlongs, and Imperia has already shown he can handle a mile and a sixteenth – albeit going one turn.

Lawn Ranger, by U S Ranger, and Danny Boy, by Harlan’s Holiday, finished one-two in the Grade 3 Bourbon Stakes going 1 1/16 miles on the Keeneland turf; however, both have pedigrees slanted toward shorter distances. Lawn Ranger is a half-brother to Grade 3 Schuylerville winner Georgie’s Angel – although he does get much-needed stamina from broodmare sire Dynaformer. Danny Boy, a half-brother to two-turn turf stakes winner Meal Penalty, is from the family of champion sprinter Housebuster.