SIR Winston gave Mark Casse a second US classic win and winner in 2019 when, less than a month after the trainer annexed the Kentucky Derby, the colt won the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes.
Bred and owned by Tracy Farmer, Sir Winston became the 14th Grade 1 winner for Awesome Again (Deputy Minister) who entered stud 20 years ago and has just completed another season at Adena Springs in Kentucky at the age of 25.
A half-brother to champion two-year-old and Breeders’ Cup winner Macho Uno (Holy Bull), Awesome Again was himself a Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup winner when he captured the Classic, the same year he triumphed in the Grade 1 Whitney Handicap.
At stud Awesome Again’s winners include such well-known names as Horse of the Year and Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Ghostzapper (sire of 11 Grade 1 winners), champion mare and Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Distaff heroine Ginger Punch, Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner Wilko, Grade 1 Preakness Stakes winner Oxbow, Paynter, Toccet and Daaher.
La Grand Bailadora
Tracy Farmer raced Sir Winston’s dam La Grand Bailadora, a daughter of Afleet Alex (Northern Afleet), and she won six times, notably the Grade 3 Kentucky Cup Distaff Stakes at Turfway Park where she was something of a specialist and a favoutite.
Her owner-breeder Farmer has spent four decades as an owner and breeder. His leading performers include champion Hidden Lake, two-time Grade 1 Whitney Handicap winner Commentator, multiple graded stakes winners Albert The Great and Sun King, and graded stakes-winning homebreds Sir Shackleton and La Gran Bailadora.
Farmer has some 30 horses in training and about 15 broodmares on his Shadowlawn Farm in Midway, Kentucky.
Sir Winston is just the third foal and first runner for his dam who was placed in the Grade 1 Juddmonte Spinster Stakes.
He is followed by an unnamed two-year-old filly by Ghostzapper, making her a three-parts sister to last weekend’s classic winner.
If La Gran Bailadora was well-known at Turfway Park, so too was her dam Affirmed Dancer (Affirmed). The best of her five successes was gained there when she landed the My Charmer Stakes, and she a Grade 3 runner-up in the Gallorette Stakes at Pimlico. La Gran Bailadora is the best of her six winners, and they include the stakes-placed duo of Fun In D’ Sun (Sun King) and Affirmed Cat (Forest Wildcat).
Affirmed Dancer is the standout among five winners for the Canadian champion Woolloomooloo (Regal Intention). Champion older mare and grass mare, she won seven times and her sibling, Sheila’s Ovation (Roar), is dam of the 2018 Group 3 Chilean winner Shanghai (Shanghai Bobby).