Derby pedigree: Resilience has Triple Crown bloodlines

Resilience bounced back from a fourth-place finish in the Grade 2 Risen Star to capture the Wood Memorial (G1) and secure his spot in Kentucky Derby 2024.

Under perfect handling by John Velazquez, Resilience saved ground while tailgating the speed, tipped out in the stretch and opened up by 2 1/4 lengths. The Bill Mott trainee completed 1 1/8 miles in 1:50.28 and recorded a 12.93-second final furlong.

As a 2-year-old, Resilience hit the board in two of three starts while keeping company with the future black-type competitors Locked, Stronghold, Drum Roll Please and Nash, who returned to hit the board in the Gun Runner Stakes and Lecomte (G1) before winning the Hot Springs Stakes.

Resilience celebrated New Year's Day with a 4 1/2-length triumph against maidens at Gulfstream Park.

Next out, he shipped, faced stakes winners and stretched out in the Risen Star (G2) over a sloppy Fair Grounds track and gave it his best shot. Resilience pressed the pace and was carried seven wide around the turn. He was in contention through the stretch but couldn't withstand the top three finishers and finished fourth, bested 3 1/2 lengths by eventual Blue Grass (G1) hero Sierra Leone, Lecomte Stakes (G3) winner Track Phantom, and eventual Louisiana Derby (G2) victor Catching Freedom.

Resilience (Into Mischief - Meadowsweet, by Smart Strike) is owned by the partnership of Ric Waldman, who oversaw the legendary Storm Cat's stallion career, and Emily Bushnell, daughter of Resilience's breeders Marty and Pam Wygod. The bay colt has a 6: 2-1-1 record with $494,630 in earnings, plus 110 Derby qualifying points.

Sire

Into Mischief (Harlan's Holiday - Leslie's Lady, by Tricky Creek) needs no introduction. The stallion has ruled the leading sire board by progeny earnings and number of black-type performers for five consecutive years since 2019.

At that time, Into Mischief sired the 2020 champion 3-year-old and horse of the year Authentic, the 2021 Kentucky Derby winner (by DQ) Mandaloun and the 2023 champion 3-year-old filly and Kentucky Oaks (G1) heroine Pretty Mischievous, to name a few.

Female Family

Resilience is a product of the Wygood breeding program, which includes the 2004 champion 2-year-old filly sweet catomine and 2009 Breeders Cup Distaff heroine Life is Sweet. His extended family is filled with class, stamina and a Belmont Stakes hero.

Resilience's dam Meadowsweet (Smart Strike - Tranquility Lake, by Rahy), the only filly out of multiple Grade 1 heroine Tranquility Lake, won two of six starts, a 6 1/2-furlong maiden event on the Santa Anita dirt and a high-level allowance optional-claiming contest at 1 1/16 miles on the Del Mar turf.

Resilience is Meadowsweet's second foal and first black-type earner. He has a 2-year-old full brother and a new (2024) full sister.

Resilience's second dam Tranquility Lake (Rahy - Winters' Love, by Danzig), hit the board in 21 of 27 starts, from 1 1/16 miles on dirt to 1 1/4 miles over the lawn. Among her many graded wins, Tranquility Lake scored victories in the Gamley Breeders' Cup Championship and Yellow Ribbon Stakes, both Grade 1 events, and just missed the victory by a head in the Matriarch Stakes to multiple Grade 1 winner Tout Charmant, who set a new stakes record.

Tranquility Lake was just as good in the breeding shed as she was on the track. Her first foal After Market (Storm Cat) hit the board in nine of 13 starts, including the 1 1/8-mile Eddie Read and the 1 1/4-mile Charles Whittingham Memorial, both Grade 1 turf contests, and the prestigious National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame Stakes (G2).

After Market's full brother Courageous Cat followed in his big brother's hoofprints as a multiple graded winner, capturing 11 of 15 starts, including the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame Stakes (G2) as well as the Shoemaker Mile (G1). He was a head short of victory in the 2009 Breeders' Cup Mile to the spectacular Goldikova.

A third brother, Jalil, competed overseas with uneven success. A winner of four of 16 starts, his highest accomplishment was winning the Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum Challenge-Round 3 (G2) at 1 1/4 miles on the Nad Al Sheba main track.

Although Tranquility Lake was the most accomplished runner in her family, her half-brother Benchmark (Alydar) was a multiple Grade 2 winner from a mile to 1 1/8 miles. He had a long, successful stud career in California, siring Eclipse Award 2013 champion sprinter Points Offthebench, 2006 Santa Anita Derby hero Brother Derek, who finished fourth in the Kentucky Derby, plus Grade 1-winning sprinter and sire Idiot Proof and Santa Anita Oaks heroine Silent Sighs.

Resilience's fourth dam gave us 1983 Belmont Stakes hero Caveat, who was third in that year's Kentucky Derby. Caveat, by 1974 Kentucky Derby victor Cannonade, was the second of five Belmont Stakes winners conditioned by the legendary Woody Stephens.

Resilience has similar breeding to 2020 Kentucky Derby winner Authentic. Both sons of Into Mischief hail from the same female family, 3-n, but their families are from separate lines.

Resilience's damsire is the intermediate-classic chef-de-race Smart Strike (Mr. Prospector - Classy 'n Smart, by Smarten). His sons and daughters have left a mark on Triple Crown history.

Kentucky Derby winners Mage (2023), Rich Strike (2021) and Country House (2019) are by Smart Strike's sons or grandsons.

Two sons, Curlin (2007) and Lookin at Lucky (2010), and a grandson, Exaggerator (2016), captured the Preakness.

Curlin missed by a head in an epic battle against Rags to Riches in the 2007 Belmont. Curlin's daughter Nest was second in the 2022 edition, and his son Keen Ice was third in 2015.

Smart Strike is the broodmare sire of 183 stakes winners, including two-time champion sprinter Goodnight Olive and 2010 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf heroine Shared Account. Smart Strike's daughter produced two of the longest-priced Kentucky Derby winners in history, Mine That Bird (2009) and Rich Strike (2020). Additionally, Rich Strike is a son of Keen Ice, Smart Strike's grandson.

The Into Mischief-Smart Strike bloodline cross has yielded five black-type earners from 14 starters, including Grade 3-winning turf sprinter Bye Bye, stakes-winning turf miler Corruze and multiple Grade 1-placed sprinter Clearly Unhinged, who placed in last year's Test and La Brea Stakes.

Although no large heart gene has been found, single nucleotide polymorphism sires are still being mapped, and an SNP may be found for the large heart. Multiple studies proved that there is a correlation between heart size and performance.

So, for identification purposes, this trait is known as the X-Path since the trait passes from sire to daughter to son. Resilience's damsires back to the fifth generation all are noted X-Path sires. His second through fourth dams are black-type earners and rene-de-course, superior females.   

Kentucky Derby contender or pretender?

The Wood Memorial has a long and prestigious history, but like the Gilded Age of horse racing, it has lost some luster. Between 1930 and 2000, eleven Wood winners captured the Kentucky Derby, and four won the Triple Crown. One of the race's most brutal beats was when Secretariat finished third in the Wood Memorial before his historic Triple Crown sweep. 

The last Wood Memorial hero to win the Kentucky Derby was Fusaichi Pegasus in 2000.

Fast forward to more recent times. Since 2012, ten Wood Memorial winners have competed in the Kentucky Derby. The best finish was Tacitus, who was third in 2020. Wicked Strong (2015) and Frosted (2016) finished fourth.

Most Wood Memorial winners skip the Preakness; the last one to run was  Congaree (2001), who was third in the Derby and Preakness.

However, if you see a Wood winner in the Belmont Stakes, take note. Mo Donegal (2022) won the Belmont Stakes over the filly Nest, who had a troubled trip. Tacitus (2020), Frosted (2016), and Irish War Cry (2018) finished second, while Wicked Strong (2015) and Vino Rosso (2019) were fourth.

Resilience has the pedigree and conformation to handle classic distances. He has a smooth gait without excess movement, such as paddling or high knee action. 

Resilience has tactical speed and maneuvers well in traffic. He can move forward when sandwiched between rivals, targets and passes horses. He's hit the board twice at Churchill and handled a sloppy track at the Fair Grounds. Resilience faced good horses as a 2-year-old and is improving at the right moment.