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Back in January we noted in a column that Distorted Humor (TrueNicks,SRO) was a stallion whose offspring took a while to develop, and noted that he had a whole group of promising three-year-olds that could develop into serious runners. Of the horses mentioned, Colizeo took an allowance race in impressive style last time out; Age of Humor has captured the Busanda Stakes, and is also graded stakes; and Funny Feeling recently won the Just Smashing Stakes. Two other Distorted Humor sophomores we didn’t mention, Bank the Eight and Endorsement – who had yet to break his maiden at the time – have also taken stakes, Endorsement capturing the $800,000 Sunland Park Derby (gr. III). However, at the moment, it appears that the real star of the group is the horse that inspired the article, Drosselmeyer, winner of Saturday’s Belmont Stakes (gr. I).

Drosselmeyer (TrueNicks rated B+ prior to his win) had impressed us as one to watch when drawing away from his field late to take a nine furlong allowance at Gulfstream Park, an effort that placed him near the forefront of potential Derby contenders for his owners WinStar Farm. However, a fourth in the Risen Star Stakes (gr. II) and a third in the Louisiana Derby (gr. II) saw him come short of the necessary graded earnings to make the field (although, of course, WinStar won anyway with Super Saver). Given a break, Drosselmeyer returned to finish a well-beaten second to Fly Down (runner-up in the Belmont, and clearly staying the trip, despite his 3 x 3 inbreeding to Mr. Prospector) in the Dwyer Stakes (gr. II).

Although he is by Champion Two-Year-Old Forty Niner out of a mare by Danzig – often an influence for precocity – Drosselmeyer’s sire Distorted Humor didn’t run at two. He was a six furlong stakes winner and graded-placed at three, and he was a grade III winner at four. However, it was as a five-year-old that he really blossomed, taking three graded stakes at 7 and 7½ furlongs – including the Churchill Downs Handicap (gr. II) in a new track-record – and finishing third in the Cigar Mile (gr. I). Although his final season at the track would give the impression that Distorted Humor was a seven furlong specialist, it shouldn’t be overlooked that as a three-year-old he was beaten just a head by the very talented older horse Isitingood in the nine-furlong Fayette Stakes (gr. II).

Distorted Humor was the Leading Freshman Sire of 2005, when his first crop included the grade I-winning juvenile filly Awesome Humor. However, although Distorted Humor has gone on to establish himself as one of North America’s premier stallions, Awesome Humor remains an anomaly as his only juvenile grade I winner, and in general his offspring are progressive types, doing their best work at three and up. Many of his best have shown ability over classic distances, among them Kentucky Derby (gr. I) winner Funny Cide; Flower Alley (TrueNicks,SRO), who took the Travers Stakes (gr. I); Fourty Niners Son, successful in the Clement L. Hirsch Memorial Turf Championship (gr. I), and also a grade II winner at 1½ miles; Rinky Dink, who captured the Australian Oaks (gr. I); and Hystericalady, a grade I winner at seven furlongs, but also successful in the Delaware Handicap (gr. II) – all are major winners at ten furlongs. Meanwhile the very speedy Commentator took two renewals of the Whitney Handicap (gr. I) at nine furlongs, while Any Given Saturday (TrueNicks,SRO) captured the Haskell Invitational (gr. I) and Brooklyn Handicap (gr. II), and Bit of Whimsey took the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (gr. I) at the same distance. In fact the only one of Distorted Humor’s grade I winners to date who didn’t win a major stakes at a distance in excess of 8½ furlongs is Awesome Humor, and she was also runner-up to Island Fashion in the ten-furlong Alabama Stakes (gr. I).

Drosselmeyer’s dam, Golden Ballet, was a versatile and very talented performer. A California-bred, she broke her maiden in the Hollywood Nursery Stakes at 4½ furlongs on her fourth outing after beginning her career with a couple of starts in half-mile dashes. On her only other juvenile start she took the 5½ furlong Cinderella Stakes by eight lengths. Golden Ballet continued her progress at three, capturing the seven-furlong Santa Ynez Stakes (gr. II) by seven lengths; the one-mile Las Virgenes Stakes (gr. I) by 2½ lengths; and the 8½-furlong Santa Anita Oaks (gr. I) by a length over another top class filly, Flute (who coincidentally is from the immediate family of Saturday’s Epsom Derby (gr. I) winner Workforce). The triumphant progress was halted next time out in the Ashland Stakes (gr. I), where she went down by 2½ lengths to another excellent filly, Fleet Renee. In her only other start, Golden Ballet bade a victorious fairwell to the racetrack, leading throughout – as she had in each of her wins at three – to take the seven furlong Railbird Stakes (gr. II) by four lengths from grade I winner Starrer. Golden Ballet has already produced another very accomplished runner in the Unbridled's Song (TrueNicks,SRO) filly Stage Luck, winner of the Affectionately Handicap, and also third in the Ruffian Handicap (gr. I).

Golden Ballet’s sire, Moscow Ballet, had a true classic pedigree, as he was by English Triple Crown winner Nijinsky II, out of a half sister to Paul Mellon’s great runner Mill Reef, winner of the Epsom Derby the year after Nijinsky II. Trained in Ireland, Moscow Ballet ran only four times, winning twice over six furlongs, and gaining a black type win in the Railway Stakes (gr. III) at two. Moscow Ballet went on to be a very useful regional sire in California, and sired five other graded winners in addition to Golden Ballet. As far as distance capacity is concerned, the quintet range from the excellent sprint filly Soviet Problem, second in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint (gr. I); to Teresa Mc, who took the La Brea Stakes (gr. III) at seven furlongs; to Dominant Dancer, successful in the 8½-furlong Oak Leaf Stakes (gr. I); to Dancing Edie, winner of the nine-furlong John C. Mabee Handicap (gr. I); and finally to Moscow Burning, who landed the Sheepshead Bay Handicap (gr. II) at 11 furlongs.

Golden Ballet’s second dam, Golden Jewel Box, was an unraced daughter of Champion Older Horse Slew o’ Gold. Her granddam, Miss Storm Bird, was by Storm Bird out of the stakes winner Nasomo (by Nasrullah, from the La Troienne family) mare Sun Lover. Miss Storm Bird never won, but was a sister to stakes-placed English two-year-old Sungull, and half sister to the very speedy Hawkin’s Special (grade II Los Angeles Handicap), and to Chati, a tough middle-distance horse who was stakes-placed at as far as 1½ miles and captured the Riggs Handicap (gr. II) and Lamplighter Handicap (gr. III), both on turf.

When considering Drosselmeyer’s pedigree, the first and most obvious thing it has going for it is the sheer class of Distorted Humor as a sire, and Golden Ballet as a runner. We wrote that we believed his credentials gave him a good shot at the Derby trip. It would be harder to have said with certainty that on paper he would get 1½ miles, but given his running style one gained the impression that he was the typical type of grinding runner that one finds when a horse has inherited the stamina aspects of an ostensibly speedy pedigree.

Class apart, there are some patterns worth noting. The most obvious is that Distorted Humor’s dam, Danzig’s Beauty (herself a graded stakes winner), and Moscow Ballet have a similar background. They are by Northern Dancer sons (Danzig and Nijinsky II), whose dams descend from one or other of the brothers Sir Gallahad III and Bull Dog, and are inbred to those siblings (Storm Bird, sire of Golden Ballet’s third dam, is also a Northern Dancer son that fits the same description). In addition, Danzig’s Beauty’s dam is a Royal Charger/Eight Thirty cross, and Moscow Ballet’s dam a Nasrullah/Eight Thirty cross (Nasrullah being a three-parts-brother to Royal Charger).

We can also note that Slew o’ Gold, sire of Drosselmeyer’s granddam, is a son of Seattle Slew. He is a horse who has been a tremendous foil for Distorted Humor, with horses produced on the Distorted Humor/Seattle Slew cross including Funny Cide (whose broodmare sire, Slewacide, is a product of the same Seattle Slew/Buckpasser cross as Slew o’Gold), Any Given Saturday, and graded winners Z Humor and Endorsement (all out of mares by A.P. Indy, a Seattle Slew son who has Buckpasser as sire of his second dam).

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