Photo: Kevin Creative (Kevin House)
by Jarrod Horak
Which horse has the best
pedigree to handle twelve furlongs in the final leg of the Triple Crown on
Saturday, June 9 at Belmont Park? My Belmont Stakes alphabetical list continues
with Atigun.
Atigun’s sire Istan raced 21
times from 2004-07. He captured a pair of flat mile grade three events (Ack
Ack, TP Fall Championship) in ’07 and banked more than $461k in his career. He
is also the sire of G3 Lecomte hero Mr. Bowling.
Istan’s sire Gone West
(by Mr. Prospector) was on the Triple Crown trail in 1987, making
waves in the Hutcheson (2nd), Fountain of Youth (3rd), Gotham (1st), Wood
Memorial (2nd), Withers (1st), and Peter Pan (2nd), before finishing 6th in the
Belmont Stakes. The late Gone West sired his 100th stakes winner earlier this
year.
Istan’s dam Ronda (GB), by Bluebird, was a group
three winner in France in 1999. She came to the US later that year and raced
until 2000, hitting the board in the G1 Garden City BC Handicap, G3 Jenny
Wiley, and G2 Just a Game.
Atigun’s dam Rimini Road (by
Dynaformer) raced once, finishing 3rd in a mile and a sixteenth
straight maiden affair at Woodbine in 2002.
Dynaformer (by Roberto) brings
class and stamina to this side of the pedigree. He won 7 of 30 starts from
1987-89 and earned more than $671k. He won the G2 Jersey Derby and G2 Discovery
in 1988.
The late Dynaformer was
responsible for 130 stakes winners including ’06 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro.
Rimini Road’s dam Evangelical
(by Devil’s Bag) won the G3 Gardenia Stakes at Ellis Park in 1990.
Atigun has some stamina
influences on the female side of his pedigree but hardly owns stellar twelve
furlong breeding. He failed to threaten in a trio of graded routes and
seems up against it vs. the likes of I’ll Have Another.