Commenting upon a post parade on TVG, Simon Bray said, “I’ve never met a Scat Daddy I didn’t like.” Most horsemen share this opinion these days. In what has been called the deepest Kentucky Derby crop in recent memory, after a spate of lightweight fields, the late Scat Daddy, with his penultimate crop, stands out. Two will surely be in the field, and they are both thrilling colts—Justify and Mendelssohn. In only his third lifetime start, Justify easily beat Bolt D’Oro in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby, with Mike Smith chilly and still in the irons. Some may argue that Mendelssohn didn’t win over much of a field in the UAE Derby-G2 on Dubai World Cup day, but his 18 length victory, his first time on dirt, left him neither breathing hard nor sweating. He could have gone around again, with the same result. Being slightly more than a half-sibling to both the great Champion Beholder and sire sensation Into Mischief, it’s no wonder that, after spirited bidding, Coolmore/Ashford took the colt home for three million dollars (and he now appears to be worth every penny). Justify was no slouch in the auction ring either, fetching $500,000 from a partnership headed by China Horse Club. Of course, the Derby frequently besmirches the records of favorites and disdains famous horses, but these two Scat Daddy colts have so thrilled racing fans that it’s difficult to get excited about any other horse.

 

Scat Daddy died in late 2015, as he was about to stand for his highest stud fee, $100,000, having been listed for as low as $10,000 early in his career. Known for getting juvenile stakes winners, his popularity grew exponentially, to the point that Ashford Stud, where he stood, kept a waiting list for seasons to only two stallions, him and their perennially popular (and, sadly, now deceased) Giant’s Causeway. Neither his sire, Johannesburg, nor his grandsire, Hennessy, are known as sires of sires, yet Scat Daddy became a superstar. His pedigree, with its inbreeding to Mr. Prospector through two of his daughters, and to Northern Dancer through his son whom the Storm Cat line loves, Nijinsky II, also features Ogygian on the sire’s side, bringing to the table both Damascus and the important Francis S. mare Gonfalon, who offers several of the strengths that both Justify and Mendelssohn’s pedigrees echo, including Princequillo, La Troienne, Mahmoud, and the half siblings Bois Roussel, Admiral Drake and Marguerite de Valois, these latter three being especially important as they are also half siblings to Bull Dog and Sir Gallahad III. Fans of the film “The Big Lebowski” will remember the line, “that rug really pulled the room together.” Ogygian really pulls the pedigrees of both Justify and Mendelssohn together.

John Guenther of Glennwood Farm must be congratulated for breeding Justify. The gorgeous chestnut colt’s pedigree is a marvel of riches and clever doublings and triplings of important relatives designed to promote both speed and endurance. Further inbreeding to Mr. Prospector and Nijinsky exists in many of Scat Daddy’s top offspring, and Justify gives us this as well, and more.

The most ingenious and striking aspect of Justify’s pedigree is the placement, 4 x 4, on both top and bottom sides, of the full sisters Preach and Narrate. Both are genetic masterpieces, being by Honest Pleasure (whose pedigree boasts Bold Ruler, Mahmoud’s daughter Grey Flight, and Plucky Liege’s son Bois Roussel), and out of the Nijinsky II mare State, who herself is out of Monarchy, by Round Table. Narrate, (1980), is the second dam of Johannesburg. Preach (1989), on the dam’s side, is the mother of one of A.P. Indy’s greatest sons, Pulpit. Justify’s second dam, Mystical Illusion, is a daughter of Pulpit. For good measure, both the top side and the bottom side of Justify’s pedigree have another dose of Nijinsky II, on top through Likeable Style, a Nijinsky daughter, Scat Daddy’s second dam, and on bottom through Baldski, a Nijinsky son, and the sire of Justify’s third dam, Voodoo Lily. Add to that the appearance in the dam’s side of For the Moment, Honest Pleasure’s full brother, as the sire of Justify’s fourth dam, and this pattern of inbreeding to siblings and half-siblings becomes clear (and admirable).

In past columns, it has been noted that accumulation of the offspring of the Spearmint mare Plucky Liege results in great race horses, and that more variety among her offspring in pedigrees cements this strength. Justify’s pedigree has more Plucky Liege in it than any I’ve ever seen: 15 doses of Bull Dog, 10 of his full brother Sir Gallahad III, three doses of their half-brother Bois Roussel, two of another half-brother Admiral Drake, and the key ancestor, Plucky Liege’s daughter Marguerite de Valois, making a single cameo appearance with her half-brothers. Just as Nijinsky through both sons and daughters offers the valuable zig zag pattern and enhances the probability of the large heart gene being passed on through a daughter, so too does this occur with this array of Plucky Liege’s offspring. Add to this three times tracing back to the great Frizette, through Mr. Prospector and Seattle Slew, one of the most powerful combinations in contemporary pedigrees because of their common female ancestor, and numerous doses of La Troienne, who complements Plucky Liege’s family because she, like Bull Dog and Sir Gallahad, is by Teddy, and it becomes clear that this pedigree was created by a master craftsman.

What more can be said about Mendelssohn’s pedigree? He is a half-brother (and a smidge more) to the great Beholder, who was by Henny Hughes, a daughter of Hennessy, Scat Daddy’s grandfather. He is also a half-sibling (and a smidge more) to sire sensation Into Mischief, who, being by Harlan’s Holiday, comes from the same Storm Cat lineage as Scat Daddy once more. Broodmare of the Year Leslie’s Lady, the dam of all three of these amazing thoroughbreds, boasts an interesting combination of American speed and classic stamina in her pedigree. Her sire, Tricky Creek, was by Clever Trick, out of the wonderful mare Kankakee Miss, and brought speed, without distance, to the table. But Tricky Creek’s dam was Battle Creek Girl, by His Majesty, who with his full brother by Ribot as well, Graustark, is one of the primary stamina influences in American pedigrees. Battle Creek Girl’s dam was Far Beyond, by Nijinsky II, echoing the doubling and tripling of this great, just as in Justify’s pedigree.

Garnish this with some powerful Turn-to, through Stop the Music, and another dose of Northern Dancer, through One for All, complementing the wild strain of Nearctic through his son Icecapade, the sire of Clever Trick, and Mendelssohn clearly has a wonderful mixed salad of genetic material, giving him his ability to run on turf and dirt, long and short. It should also be noted that Mendelssohn’s dam’s side offers similar doses of Plucky Liege, through Bull Dog, Sir Gallahad III, and Admiral Drake, as well as La Troienne.

Need I mention that both Justify and Mendelssohn are drop dead gorgeous, with heads and eyes radiating nobility and intelligence? Justify may be lightly raced, which some would consider a curse for a horse entering the Kentucky Derby, and Mendelssohn may be more of a turf horse who beat an undistinguished field in Dubai. But I, for one, may put a couple of dollars on a Scat Daddy exacta box come Derby day, after admiring these two handsome hunks in the post parade. I too have never met a Scat Daddy I didn’t like.