Chef-de-Race: Unbridled
b.h., 1987 (Fappiano-Gana Facil, by Le Fabuleux)
(June 19, 2008)

Unbridled, b.h., 1987 (Fappiano-Gana Facil, by Le Fabuleux) was the fourth American classic winner to win the Breeders' Cup Classic but only the second, a year after Sunday Silence, to win both as a three-year-old.  This extraordinary feat of winning a classic race and the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) in the same year has been duplicated only twice since; by A.P. Indy in 1992 and by Curlin in 2007.  It is interesting to note that of the six dual winners, only Unbridled failed to capture Horse of the Year honors in the year he won the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1).  Whether capturing North America's two most important races at weight-for-age in relatively easy fashion is enough to overcome what some have called an inconsistent season is debatable.  In Unbridled's case, "inconsistent" meant, in addition to victories in the Kentucky Derby (G1) against three-year-olds and in the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) against older horses, finishing first in the Florida Derby (G1), second in the Preakness Stakes (G1), Super Derby (G1) and Secretariat Stakes (G1T), and third in the Blue Grass Stakes (G2) and Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2).  Nevertheless, Unbridled was beaten out of Horse of the Year honors in 1990 by older handicapper Criminal Type.  

Bred in Florida by Tartan Farms, Unbridled was purchased as a weanling by Mrs. Francis Genter for $70,000 in what turned out to be one of the great bargains in the annals of racing.  The Tartan and Florida influences are apparent on both sides of Unbridled's pedigree.  His sire, the brilliant miler and Intermediate/Classic chef-de-race Fappiano, was bred and raced by John Nerud, Tartan's president and general manager.  His dam, Gana Facil was a third-generation Tartan-bred mare and his second dam's sire, Brilliant/Classic chef-de-race, In Reality, was bred in Florida by Mrs. Genter.

Unbridled represents the rapidly expanding Native Dancer sire line through Brilliant chef-de-race Raise a Native and Brilliant/Classic chef-de-race Mr. Prospector.  This branch of the Native Dancer sire line is currently the dominant sire line in North American classic racing.  In recent years, the line through Fappiano alone has produced, in addition to Unbridled, classic winners Victory Gallop, Real Quiet, Empire Maker, Red Bullet, Grindstone and Birdstone.

At two, Unbridled never was out of the money in six starts, winning a maiden race and the What a Pleasure Stakes while placing in four other added money events.  For his effort as a juvenile, Unbridled was weighted at 116 pounds on the Experimental Free Handicap, ten pounds below champion and highweight Rhythm.  As a three-year-old his record was 4-3-2 from 11 starts, all of his placings coming in graded stakes.  Unbridled returned to the races at four to win the Deputy Minister Stakes-L and finish third in another try at the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1).  He retired to stud with eight wins, six seconds and six thirds from 24 starts and earnings of $4,489,475.

His first crop included 1995 Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) winner Unbridled's Song which propelled him to fourth on that year's freshman sire list.  Four years later he sired another Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) winner, Anees, which also was named champion two-year-old colt of 1999.  Then, in 2003, a daughter, Halfbridled, captured both the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) and the two-year-old filly championship.  Unbridled's first crop also included 1996 Kentucky Derby winner Grindstone which later sired 2004 Belmont Stakes (G1) winner Birdstone.

By 1999 Unbridled had risen to fifth on the general sire list with progeny earnings exceeding $5 million.  That year he sired three Grade 1 stakes winners, second only in North America to leading sire Storm Cat's seven.

In 2001, the year he died tragically from colic at age 14, he was tenth on the general sire list.  In 2003 he was tenth again on the general sire list, once more with progeny earnings topping $5 million.

Overall, Unbridled sired 48 stakes winners in an abbreviated stud career including four Eclipse Award champions (three-year-old fillies Banshee Breeze and Smuggler and the previously mentioned two-year olds Anees and Halfbridled) and three classic winners (Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Grindstone, Preakness Stakes (G1) winner Red Bullet and Belmont Stakes (G1) winner Empire Maker).  His other Grade 1 stakes winners include Eddington, Exogenous, Manistique and Unshaded.

Daughters of Unbridled have produced Grade 1 stakes winners Dream Rush (a 2007 Eclipse Award finalist for female sprinter), Lady Joanne and Tapit.  He placed among the top 50 broodmare sires by progeny earnings in both 2006 and 2007.  As of June 18, he ranked 18th in 2008 with five stakes winners headed by Denis of Cork.

Significantly, Unbridled is demonstrating success as a sire of sires.  In 2007, two of his sons ranked among the top 20 on the general sire list: Unbridled's Song at 15th and Broken Vow at 17th. Through June 18th of 2008 they rank 16th and 33rd, respectively.  Also in 2007, Broken Vow was the leading third-crop sire in North America by progeny earnings, over $1 milion ahead of second ranked Tiznow.  This follows a second place finish among leading second crop sires of 2006 and a fifth place finish among freshmen sires of 2005.  Unbridled's Song also has been very consistent, placing among the top 15 on the general sire list in three of the last four years and generating progeny earnings of more than $5 million for five years in a row.  He is the sire of eight Grade 1 stakes winners.

Runners by Unbridled have an average winning distance (AWD) in North American open stakes races of 9.05 furlongs.  Among currently active sires, only two have a longer AWD and both are predominantly turf sires.  Just 7.0% of Unbridled's progeny stakes wins have been at seven furlongs or less.  40.8% have been between 7 1/2 and 8 1/2 furlongs and 52.1% have been at nine furlongs or more.  20.8% of the stakes wins have been at the American classic distances of 9 1/2, 10 or 12 furlongs.

In order to observe whether Unbridled is expressing prepotence for type as a sire, we have applied an additional, new metric we believe is useful.  First, we determine the percent distribution of stakes in the database at sprint (30.7%), middle (38.0%) and route (31.3%) distances.  Next we compare the progeny win distribution of an individual sire with the standard and note the difference at each distance range.  For Unbridled the figures are, as noted earlier, 7.0% in sprints, 40.8% in middle distance races and 52.1% in routes.  The differences between his profile and the standard are, respectively, 23.7%, 2.8% and 20.8%.  The average difference is 15.8%.  If a sire's stakes winning progeny expressed the same distance profile as the standard, it would suggest that prepotence for type is not a factor.  An example is Gulch whose distance profile is 31.8%, 37.9% and 30.3%.  The average difference between Gulch's profile and the standard is only 0.7%.  Similarly, the average for Storm Cat, despite the obvious quality of his runners, is only 5.9%.  The result of this analysis indicates Unbridled's distance profile is significantly skewed from an opportunistic pattern and that he is demonstrating measurable aptitudinal prepotence for type, the primary criterion for chef-de-race selection.

The following chart dramatically captures the difference in percent stakes wins for the average sire at sprint, middle and route distances with the pattern for Unbridled.

Next we look for previously overlooked evidence of an aptitudinal influence in pedigrees in which Unbridled is the common ancestor.  Therefore, we analyzed the data from 208 open North American stakes races in which Unbridled or any of several of his first- or second-generation leading sons is the sire or broodmare sire of the race winner.  The average winning distance (AWD) of these races is 8.23 furlongs with an average winner's Dosage Profile (DP) of 5.26-6.09-10.75-0.67-3.34, average Dosage Index (DI) of 1.89 and average Center of Distribution (CD) of 0.36.

The predicted DI and CD values at an average winning distance of 8.23 furlongs are 3.24 and 0.70, respectively.  Clearly there is more speed being transmitted through Unbridled than is currently captured by his Dosage contribution of 5-6-7-0-6 (equivalent to DI 1.53 and CD 0.17).  In contrast to Unbridled's AWD of 9.05 furlongs, we should take note of the AWDs of his leading sons at stud and his stakes-producing daughters shown in the following table.  To this list we have included the figure for Songandaprayer, a successful son of Unbridled's Song which was the fourth leading freshman sire of 2005 and was the co-second-leading sire of stakes winners among third crop sires in 2007.

All of the descendants display a significantly shorter AWD than Unbridled.  These data confirm a consistent and significant transmission of speed through Unbridled to later generations.

Although it may at first appear odd for a sire of distance runners to be named a Brilliant/Intermediate (B/I) chef-de-race, this assignment for Unbridled aligns the Dosage figures of the population of stakes winners with him as a common ancestor almost ideally with those of the general population of Thoroughbred stakes winners.  In this context, it is timely to recall Varola’s observation that the characteristics transmitted by chefs-de-race are not necessarily those they possessed on the track themselves. The emphasis is on the qualities passed on as breeding animals.  Unbridled seems to be an excellent illustration.  Furthermore, it should be understood that a chef-de-race's total Dosage contribution is based not only on his own aptitudinal assignment, but on the total aptitudinal contribution made by all chefs-de-race within four generations.  In this case, the revised average Dosage figures for Unbridled's descendants' are DP 10.61-11.53-10.79-0.66-3.43, DI 3.01 and CD 0.67 where the revised DI is only 0.23 DI units away from the predicted DI and the revised CD is only 0.03 CD units away from the predicted CD.  The virtual alignment of the sub-population (stakes winners with Unbridled as an ancestor) and the general population (all stakes winners) confirms Unbridled's aptitudinal prepotence for speed.  That speed is apparent from his ability to sire precocious juveniles including the winners of three Breeders' Cup two-year-old races, more than any sire in the history of the series.  And although these races were beyond a sprint distance, Unbridled's revised first-generation Dosage contribution of 13-14-7-0-6 (equivalent to DI 3.21 and CD 0.70) is consistent with that accomplishment.  Also consistent is the shift toward speed of Unbridled's Dosage contribution to the second generation (i.e., as a sire of sires or broodmare sire; 5-6-3-0-2 (equivalent to DI 3.57 and CD 0.75)) and third generation (2-3-1-0-0 (equivalent to DI 11.00 and CD 1.17)).  The effect of Unbridled receding in pedigrees is demonstrated by the change in AWD from Unbridled through Unbridled's Song to Songandaprayer.

With a Brilliant/Intermediate designation acknowledging a prepotent speed influence transmitted through successive generations, Unbridled becomes the 209th chef-de-race.