Distorted Humor a real classic

Stalwart sire Distorted Humor has been the gift that keeps on giving for his connections. He quietly played a role in Saturday’s Preakness Stakes, as his son Maclean’s Music was represented by a first-crop classic winner in Cloud Computing.

Distorted Humor was a multiple Grade 2 winner on the track, trained for much of his career by Elliott Walden, now president and CEO of WinStar Farm. The horse originally retired to stud at Prestonwood Farm, which co-owned him during his racing career. He was included as part of the package when Kenny Casner and Bill Troutt purchased Prestonwood to form WinStar and immediately rewarded them with 2003 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner and champion Funny Cide, who was bred by the farm. Eight years later, he presented them with another classic winner, as WinStar colorbearer Drosselmeyer captured the 2010 Belmont Stakes and later won the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Now, Distorted Humor, via Maclean’s Music, puts another WinStar fingerprint onto this year’s Triple Crown series. The farm stands Bodemeister, whose first-crop star Always Dreaming captured the Kentucky Derby. Battle of Midway, in whom WinStar owns an interest, finished a creditable third. In the Preakness, Cloud Computing outdueled Classic Empire, a son of WinStar stallion Pioneerof the Nile.

Maclean’s Music, who stands at Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm, is the second son of Distorted Humor to sire a classic winner. His Flower Alley sired 2012 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner and champion I’ll Have Another.

In addition to his sons at stud, Distorted Humor is also continuing to make an impact on the racing world through his daughters, including Bubbler, dam of champion and leading moneywinner Arrogate. Distorted Humor is also the broodmare sire of multiple Grade 1 winner Constitution, now standing at WinStar; 2016 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf winner New Money Honey; and Grade 1 winners Book Review, Molly Morgan, and Practical Joke.

Heart’s Cry gets U.S. score

Japanese sire Heart’s Cry has accomplished much in both his racing and stallion careers, but there is one thing he’s done infrequently. He was represented by just the second U.S. stakes winner of his career on Saturday when his promising son Yoshida captured the James Murphy Stakes on the Pimlico turf.

A son of the legendary Sunday Silence, champion Heart’s Cry won the Group 1 Arima Kinen in Japan, and finished second in both the Japanese Derby and Japan Cup. He was also a world traveler, capturing the Group 1 Sheema Classic in Dubai and finishing third in the prestigious Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes in England.

As a stallion at Shadai Stallion Station, he is the sire of champion Just a Way, also a Group 1 winner in Japan and Dubai; Group 1 Caulfield Cup winner Admire Rakti; and Japanese Derby winner One and Only, among others. His lone U.S. stakes performer prior to Saturday was Japanese Oaks winner Nuovo Record, who finished 11th in the 2016 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf and came back to win the Grade 3 Red Carpet.

Yoshida, bred by Northern Farm in Japan, was a $765,160 purchase by WinStar Farm’s Elliott Walden out of the 2015 Japan Racing Horse Association yearling and weanling sale, and now races for WinStar, China Horse Club, and S.F. Bloodstock. The colt is out of Grade 1 winner Hilda’s Passion, who Northern Farm purchased for $1.2 million out of the 2011 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky fall selected mixed sale.

Walden, who said he was looking for “new blood” at the time of the purchase, said the group named the horse as a tribute to Northern Farm’s Katsumi Yoshida and his brother Teruya Yoshida.

“He’s also out of a mare named Hilda’s Passion,” Walden added. “So he had American blood. Just a really nice horse. He’s a serious horse – serious.”

Yoshida finished second by a half-length in his career debut last November, then came back to roll by four lengths in a Keeneland turf maiden. In the James Murphy, he was last early, but rallied to win by four going away. The colt is expected to target the Grade 1 Belmont Derby this summer.

An Adena Springs ‘Special’

Shaman Ghost continued to establish himself as one of the better older horses in the country with his victory in the Grade 3 Pimlico Special last Friday, a score that built on family ties for his connections.

Shaman Ghost races as a homebred for Pimlico owner Frank Stronach, who also bred and campaigned both his sire Ghostzapper and grandsire Awesome Again. Those two stallions, both Breeders’ Cup Classic winners, stand alongside each other at Stronach’s Adena Springs in Paris, Ky.

Javier Castellano, aboard Shaman Ghost on Saturday, was also the regular rider of Ghostzapper. “I love the horse and I have so much confidence in him because he reminds me of his father,” Castellano said.

Devil His Due dead at 28

Devil His Due, a five-time Grade 1 winner and veteran sire, was euthanized Monday morning due to the infirmities of old age. The pensioned resident of Margaux Farm in Midway, Ky. was 28.

Bred in Kentucky by Peter Blum, the son of Devil’s Bag won 11 times in 41 starts under the watch of trainer Allen Jerkens for earnings of $3,920,405.

Devil His Due saw the most success as an older horse, winning back-to-back editions of the Grade 1 Suburban Handicap in 1993 and 1994, along with wins in the Grade 1 Pimlico Special and Gulfstream Park Handicap. At three, he won the Grade 2 Gotham Stakes, in a dead-heat with Lure, and Grade 1 Wood Memorial en route to a 12th-place finish in the Kentucky Derby. He won or placed in 23 graded stakes races, including 17 Grade 1 stakes.

The Internal Revenue Service famously seized Devil His Due during his 1994 campaign, two days before he ran second in the Grade 1 Whitney Handicap, based on the $4.39 million in back taxes owed by Robert LiButti, father of owner Edith Libutti of Lion Crest Stable. Questions lingered whether the elder LiButti owned a stake in the horse, causing Devil His Due’s purse earnings to be placed in escrow until ownership was sorted out. The courts eventually ruled in favor of the LiButtis.

The seizure kept the horse in training after he was planned to enter stud, but an ankle injury eventually forced the Devil His Due into retirement in 1995. Devil His Due entered stud the next year at Gainesway in Lexington, Ky., and he later moved to Margaux Farm, where he was active until 2013.

Devil His Due sired 18 crops, with progeny earnings of more than $54 million. His top runner was Dubai World Cup winner Roses in May, while his mark as a broodmare sire included multiple Grade 1 winner Game On Dude.