Ocean Knight: Has Curlin Sired a Triple Crown Threat?

PEDIGREE

SIRE

Ocean Knight’s sire is the super horse Curlin, who could run all day. Curlin sired a Belmont Stakes winner in his first crop, which proved him capable of siring a distance horse on the dirt.

LONG STORY SHORT: Ocean Knight is all systems go on his top side to go a distance of ground.

DAM

When it comes to the bottom side of Ocean Knight, getting a distance of ground becomes a little iffy. Ocean Knight’s dam is Ocean Goddess, who was sired by Stormy Atlantic. It’s here that we begin to have question marks.

BROODMARE SIRE: STORMY ATLATIC
Cliff Notes

• Stormy Atlantic is a regally bred horse whose runners are incredibly versatile. They have been able to win on turf, dirt and synthetic. However, when it comes to winning at various distances, his offspring have proven a lot less versatile. Most of the runners Stormy Atlantic produces excel at races up to a mile, but beyond that distance things tend to get shaky. There has been occasional success.

It is somewhat of a concern to me whether Ocean Knight will be capable of winning past the distance of 1 1/16 miles, but there is not enough to dissuade a believer in him that he could do it. The reason for the optimism is that past Ocean Knight’s first two generations, the bottom of his pedigree has a decent amount of horses that have proven successes at distance races. These horses include

• Seattle Slew
• Secretariat
• Coastal
• Storm Cat
• Majestic Prince
• Gallant Man