Om, let’s talk pedigree of a potential 2015 Kentucky Derby Winner

Typically, I do not start trying to sort out my picks for a horse to put my money on come the first Saturday in May, until late February or early in March. Mainly due to the fact, that so many of those horses that finish out their two-year-old season in excellent fashion, seem to have trouble making it into the twenty-stall starting gate at Churchill Downs on Derby Day.

We can use lasts years two-year-old champion Shared Belief as an example. Furthermore, it seems that when they get to February and March of their three-year-old year, some of the horses that may have been needing a little more time to mature, start turning the tables, on those rivals that had defeated them earlier in October and November.

Having said that it looks like a lot of folks prefer to try and get an early jump on the Derby picture, so I thought perhaps I might as well give it a shot myself.

Throughout the season, I saw many impressive two-year-old races contested and among those were the wins by American Pharaoh in the Gr.1 FrontRunner Stakes and Del Mar Futurity.

Impressive scores in these two prestigious races, led American Pharaoh to be installed as the morning line favorite for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, and even though he was scratched from that race due to minor injury, American Pharaoh leads the charge in the future pools as the early favorite to win the 2015 Kentucky Derby.

That bring us to my early-bird favorite to take the “run for the roses”. That distinguished position my friends belongs to a colt that goes by the name of Om, a speedy son of the freshman sire Munnings, and winner of the race in which American Pharaoh made his first start.  

Now, I have had a chance to meditate on things a while, and the more I do, the more I find myself thinking Om could very well be our 2015 Kentucky Derby winner.

Besides blowing away a talented field of rivals in his maiden score (a field that included American Pharaoh, along with next out Oak Tree Juvenile winner Daddy D T), by seven and a half lengths and stopping the clock in an eye popping 1:15.25. I feel that Om might just be the horse to carry that speed the full mile and a quarter of the Kentucky Derby.

Personally, I find that Om (Munnings-Rare Cat, by Tabasco Cat) has a pedigree that when combined, offers an interesting mix of both speed and stamina. Om is just a couple of generations removed from two exceptional Classic distance winners. First off his Grand-sire on the top side (Spieghtstown) is a son of a sire of sires Gone West (Mr. Prospecter-Secrettame, by Secretariat).

Moreover, we find that Holy Bull (Great Above-Sharon Brown, by Al Hattab) winner of 13 of 16 races including the Gr.1 Bluegrass Stakes and the Gr.1 Haskell, Travers, and Woodward Stakes is Om’s other top side grandsire.

His dam, Rare Cat, is a daughter of the 1994 Gr.1 Preakness and Belmont Stakes winner Tabasco Cat (Storm Cat-Barbique Sauce by Sauce Boat), and also second beaten a neck by Concern (Broad Brush-Fara’s Team, by Tunerup) in the 1994 Breeders’ Cup Classic.  

So, although his grandsire Speighstown, and his sire Munnings were better known as middle-distance runners. It would seem absolutely feasible, and even probable, that Om could carry the brilliant speed he exhibited while defeating the early Kentucky Derby futures favorite American Pharaoh, on out to the 1 ¼ mile of the Kentucky Derby as well as both Holy Bull and Tabasco Cat had the ability to carry their speed for a mile and a quarter. 

Having been sidelined by a minor injury early in his racing career, may just turn out to be a blessing for Om.  It will allow him time for ‘recovery' from his short but promising two-year-old campaign.  I suspect we might see him return sometime near or even in a race such the Robert B. Lewis Stakes in February or the San Felipe Stakes in March, giving that all goes well.

If so, I look for Om to come back with his ‘psyche’ centered and with his ‘Ying’ aligned with his ‘Yang’. By that time, if those horses that had to run later into their two-year-old season have sizzled and fizzled, Om just might be our 2015 Kentucky Derby winner. 

Let me know who your personal favorite will be to wear the roses in 2015.

~Written by Fred Tunks