Derby pedigree: Spice Runner continues Gun Runner's legacy

The road to Kentucky Derby 2026 started off with a bang and ended with a whimper in Saturday’s Grade 3 Iroquois Stakes at Churchill Downs, when the green but game Spice Runner overtook the faltering favorite Comport and stuck his head in front at the wire. The pair were clearly best, finishing six lengths clear of Vost, a last-out maiden winner who checked in third.

Spice Runner completed the mile in 1:36.59, closing his final furlong in 13.25 seconds, a tick slower than Taken by the Wind, his filly counterpart in the Pocahantas (G3). She completed in 1:36.50 with a 13.07 final furlong. 

Including his Iroquois victory, Spice Runner (Gun Runner - Simple Surprise, by Cowboy Cal) now has two wins and a second in four starts. He finished second to Comport in the Ellis Park Juvenile, was a pace factor before fading in the Bashford Manor Stakes and earned his first victory at Churchill.

The chestnut colt is a third-generation Winchell Thoroughbreds homebred, conditioned by Steve Asmussen, and has banked $293,170 along with 10 Kentucky Derby points. This marks Asmussen’s first Iroquois win since Lucky Player in 2014 and his fourth overall.

Sire

2017 horse of the year Gun Runner (Candy Ride - Quiet Giant, by Giant’s Causeway) needs no introduction to racing fans or pedigree enthusiasts. He is firmly established among the world’s elite stallions, ranking third on the national sire List. From just five crops, he’s sired 46 stakes winners, which is 7% of all winners, with a 41% overall strike rate.

His progeny excels across distances and surfaces, from early-developing juveniles to classic performers. Standouts include 2024 champion 3-year-old colt Sierra Leone and 2021 champion 2-year-old filly Echo Zulu. His current 2-year-old crop is led by Brant, winner of the Del Mar Futurity (G1), and the unbeaten Jumping the Gun, winner of the Blue Hen Stakes.

Female family

Spice Runner hails from a physically sound and talented distaff line. Four of his first five dams own black type, and his sixth dam, Red Damask, is a reine-de-course. All were precocious sprinters.

Spice Runner is inbred 3 x 3 to the legendary Giant’s Causeway. The stallion is Gun Runner’s damsire as well as Cowboy Cal’s sire. The close inbreeding yielded Spice Runner’s full brother Gunite, plus Plantstepsdream, a three-time listed-winning sprinter in Sweden.

Spice Runner is a full brother to Gunite, who earned more than $2.4 million in 21 starts. Gunite was a precocious 2-year-old, winning the Hopeful Stakes (G1) by daylight, and later became a world-class sprinter. The compact dark bay colt won or placed in 14 stakes, including a 1 3/4-length upset victory over the reigning champion male sprinter Elite Power before retiring to Coolmore for a $30,000 stud fee.

Their dam, Simple Surprise (Cowboy Cal - Simplify, by Pulpit), hit the board in 11 of 15 starts and earned $185,446 in three years as a stakes-winning turf sprinter.

Simple Surprises is a half sister to a trio of black-type runners, including Optionality (Gun Runner), a stakes-winning sprinter-miler; her full brother, Counterspy, Grade 3-placed at 1 1/8 miles; and stakes-placed miler Simply Sovereign (American Pharoah).

Spicer Runner’s second dam, Simplify (Pulpit - Classic Olympio, by Olympio), hit the board in 13 of 22 starts in four years as a dirt sprinter. She was precocious, winning her debut on May 1, 2008, at Churchill and then finishing third, beaten a head for second by Rachel Alexandra, in the Debutante Stakes (G3) at the same track. She won the Loudonville Stakes at Saratoga the following year.  

Spice Runner is a member of the Lowes Family 1-l. a branch that has produced Preakness and Belmont winners. Stage Door Johnny, winner of the Belmont Stakes, and Spice Runner are distantly related through the Rene, Folle Nuit (FR), Spice Runner’s eighth dam and Stage Door Johny’s third.

Damsire

Cowboy Cal (Giant’s Causeway - Texas Tammy, by Seeking the Gold) competed for three years and earned $1,037,810 in 19 starts as a multiple Grade 2 and Grade 3 winner from a mile to 1 1/8 miles over synthetic and turf. Although he never won at the highest level, the dark bay placed second three times, at 1 1/8 miles and 1 1/4 miles.

As a damsire, Cowboy Cal has nine stakes winners, including 2021 Preakness hero Rombauer (Twirling Candy) and Powdered Sugar (Gift Box), both of whom, like Gun Runner, hail from the Candy Ride sire line.

Spice Runner might carry the X-factor. His damsire, plus second damsire Pulpit and third damsire Olympio, all are carriers. Digging deeper, Spice Runner has 20 instances of the famed Princequillo bloodline. 

Kentucky Derby contender or pretender?

History is not on Spice Runner’s side. Since its inception in 1982, the Iroquois has yet to produce a Kentucky Derby winner, though several alumni made noise in the classics.

The Iroquois was created in 1982. None of the winners have returned to win the Kentucky Derby. However, over the last 15 years, we’ve made progress.

Iroquois winner Astrology (2010) was third in the Preakness, and more recently Seize the Grey, fourth in the 2023 Iroquois, returned to win the Preakness. Runner-ups Midnight Bourbon and Looking at Lee, as well as Ride on Curlin, all hit the board in Triple Crown races.

One Iroquois winner from the last six who ran in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile hit the board. Not This Time (2016) missed the Juvenile victory by a neck and unfortunately was injured and retired.

As for Spice Runner, he is still a work in progress, running on raw talent while figuring things out. His quirks were evident from his debut, when he raced without blinkers, ducked away from the crop, and failed to change leads until late in the stretch. Blinkers helped him improve in the Bashford Manor and Ellis Park Juvenile, but in the Iroquois, he reverted to old habits.

For the first time, Spice Runner was asked to sit behind the pace in traffic. He was stressed, pulling hard early, then relaxed after the first quarter.

He showed a competitive nature, moving forward between rivals and targeting horses in front.

But things fell apart in the stretch, as Spice Runner was busy thinking about the horses around him. He didn’t switch leads and ducked from the crop. Eventually, he regained focus, switched leads and targeted the tiring Comport.

Physically, Spice Runner has the conformation to go farther. Unlike his compact, sprinter-type brother Gunite, who takes after the female family and is a smallish dark-bay built for speed, Spice Runner is bigger, with a longer stride and the conformation of a two-turn horse, similar to Gun Runner’s.

Although it’s way too soon to be thinking about a race that is 33 weeks away, Spice Runner shows promise. Other Iroquois winners evolved into solid stakes horses, and with his pedigree and competitive drive, Spice Runner could do the same.