Kentucky Derby pedigrees: Delving into Disco Time’s roots

Disco Time did the Bump and the Hustle and boogied his way to a neck victory Saturday in the Grade 3 Lecomte Stakes at Fair Grounds.

After doing the bump with his rivals on either side at the start, Florent Geroux allowed Disco Time to recover and gather himself while racing in 10th place.

Hustling down the backstretch, Disco Time circled the field nine wide and needed every step of the sloppy stretch to nail Built by a neck on the wire with Innovator a game half-length back in third place.

Conditioned by Brad Cox, Disco Time competed 1 1/16 miles in 1:47.07 with a final half-furlong in 6.98. Undefeated in three starts, including twice at Churchill Downs, the Juddmonte homebred has earned $291,960 and 20 qualifying points toward Kentucky Derby 2025.

Sire

Not This Time (Giant's Causeway) has royal bloodlines. He is the third stakes winner and second successful stallion out of the graded winner and producer Miss Macy Sue. His half-brother Liam's Map (Unbridled) set a track record at Keeneland in the 2015 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile. The eye-catching dark bay-brown stallion was the fourth-leading first-, second- and third-crop sire by earnings and is currently no. 13 on the national sire list.

Not This Time's distaff line is a product of the top Florida breeders, Tartan Farms, later Mockingbird Farm, and John Nerud bloodlines and Claiborne Kentucky royalty. 

Not This Time's fifth dam Ta Wee is a half-sister to champion miler Dr. Fager. An excellent race mare and producer, Ta Wee's son Great Above sired champion Holy Bull.  

Not This Time has sired seven U.S. Grade 1 winners, including 2023 champion turf male Up to the Mark and 2022 champion 3-year-old colt Epicenter, the 2020 Travers (G1) hero who was second in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness. He also was third in the Lecomte before capturing the Risen Star (G2) and Louisiana Derby (G2).

The stallion's progeny win from sprints to classic distance. His son, the 6-year-old Next, is a throwback to the solid long-distance runners in times past and has won 13 of 24 starts, mainly graded stakes. 

Female family

Disco Time's distaff line is a blend of classic stamina and sprinter-miler influences and offers the best bloodlines in the mid-Atlantic region, bookended by his sire Jump Start and Disco Time's fifth dam, 1972 champion sprinter Chou Croute.

Although the mare handled 1 1/8 miles, Chou Croute excelled as a sprinter against fillies and colts and was inducted into the Fair Grounds Hall of Fame in 2001. The Chou Croute Stakes was contested intermittently at Fair Grounds from 1978 to 2009.

Disco Time is the second competitor out of the hardy, multiple stakes-winning sprinter, Disco Chick (Jump Start), who was in the money in 30 of 42 starts, mainly listed stakes, earning $735,250 for her connections. She owns the only black type dating back to Chou Croute.

Disco Chick was acquired by Juddmonte Farms in 2018 for $180,000, then let go in 2022 in the Keeneland November breeding-stock sale after bearing three foals, Disco Time and two by Arrogate.

Despite the sprinter orientation of the mares of this family, Disco Time's half-brother Bright Spark (Arrogate) won at 1 3/16 miles on the dirt in a starter-allowance contest at Oaklawn in 1:59.78. 

As a note for pedigree geeks, Disco Time descends from the Lowes family 2-d, the same line as Halo, and two Kentucky Derby victors, Northern Dancer and Cannonade. They all trace back to champion filly and reine-de-course mare Mother Goose. Spectacular Bid and Giacomo also are members of the Lowes family 2-d through different lines.

Disco Time may carry the X-factor path, received through his dam and damsire, Jump Start. Jump Start’s dam Steady Cat is a double-copy mare, and the X-path can be traced back over six generations in her lineage. Further, Disco Time’s third through fifth dams are suspected carriers.

Damsire

Jumpstart, a well-bred son of A.P. Indy out of Storm Cat's multiple stakes-placed sprinting daughter Steady Cat, showed promise and potential when he captured the Saratoga Special (G2) in his second start. After throwing a clunker in the Hopeful (G1), the Overbrook Farm homebred closed for second place in the Champagne (G1) but was injured in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile and retired.

Jump Start moved to Pennsylvania after the Overbrook Farm dispersal and was a boon to mid-Atlantic breeders, earning leading stallion status five times in Pennsylvania and three years as champion mid-Atlantic stallion.

His offspring win from sprints to middle distances, including Hollywood Gold Cup (G1) hero Rail Trip and multiple graded-winning warrior Prayer for Relief.

Equineline shows that Jump Start is a young broodmare sire, with 459 winners from 728 starters and 34 stakes winners. 

Jump Start's pedigree screams broodmare sire, with two crosses to Secretariat through his two most influential daughters, Weekend Surprise and Terlingua. The exceptional broodmare sires Buckpasser and Princequillo are Jump Start's third and fourth damsires. Princequillo is predominant with five occurrences throughout Jump Start's pedigree.

Disco Times' second dam sire, Maryland's 2001 champion sprinter Disco Rico, offers a balance of speed to Jump Start's stamina influences.

Kentucky Derby contender or pretender?

Lecomte winners are winnowed out by Kentucky Derby day but have fared better in the Preakness. Eight of the last 15 Lecomte victors entered the starting gate on the first Saturday in May, and none placed better than fourth.

But three contested the Preakness Stakes and either won or placed second, and one of two Lecomte winners who made it to the Belmont Stakes finished second.

Disco Time's conformation and pedigree indicate that classic distances are within his scope. He has a smooth gait and keeps a straight path.

The Dark Bay colt was professional in his three starts and overcame minor trouble at the beginning of the Lecomte. He has good gate speed and can act as a pacesetter, presser or one-run closer. Disco Time is comfortable dueling while in tight on the rail or circling the field and handles fast and sloppy ground.

Disco Time can be excused for his slow final time of 1:47.07 in the Lecomte because of the sloppy track. In his debut, he completed seven furlongs with a respectable 12.59-second final furlong, and his final furlong in his one-mile second start was 12.80 while he widened his lead to 3 1/2 lengths.

Brad Cox told Daily Racing Form that Disco Time will return in February in either the Risen Star (G3) or ship to Oaklawn for the Rebel Stakes (G2).