Of the stallions that retired to stud in 2018, two time-world champion Arrogate and 2017 Horse of the Year Gun Runner stood head and shoulders above the rest of their cohort as far as racing performance was concerned. Arrogate had the edge on the track, coming out ahead twice in the three meetings between the pair. He had left Gun Runner 15 lengths back in third when scoring his momentous record-breaking Travers Stakes (G1) triumph in 2016, and despite blowing the start, ran down Gun Runner to beat his rival by 2 1/4 lengths in an unforgettable Dubai World Cup Sponsored by Emirates Airline (G1) in 2017. After that heroic effort Arrogate's form tailed off in his last three starts, where Gun Runner went from strength to strength, and he gained a measure of revenge over his rival when taking the 2017 Breeders' Cup Classic (G1), with Arrogate, a shadow of his former self, back in fifth.
At stud, however, the order has been reversed. Gun Runner has made a sensational start to his career. The leading first-crop sire of 2021, his total of first-crop stakes winners already stands at 12, including champion 2-year-old filly Echo Zulu and a quartet of grade 1-winning colts: Preakness Stakes (G1) victor Early Voting , TVG.com Haskell Invitational Stakes (G1) and Arkansas Derby (G1) winner Cyberknife , Runhappy Santa Anita Derby (G1) winner Taiba , and Gunite , recent winner of the Amsterdam Stakes (G2). All four of those are likely to find a place at stud, as should Gun Runner's grade 2-winning and multiple grade 1-placed son Pappacap , so the Three Chimneys stallion has already set himself up with a good shot to extend his legacy.
Arrogate, who tragically died in June 2020, by way of contrast did not have a stakes-winning juvenile in his first crop, and ended 2021 occupying 12th position on the leading freshman table. Of course, Arrogate himself didn't make his first start until April of his 3-year-old season, and he didn't contest a stakes until the Travers in late August. It was predictable then that the son of Unbridled's Song would improve his standing as his offspring matured, and that has proved to be the case, as he has moved into third on the leading second-crop sires list behind Gun Runner and Keen Ice , the sire of upset Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) scorer Rich Strike . He has now been represented by four stakes winners, including the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) victress Secret Oath. He still doesn't have a graded stakes-winning colt to his name but that situation may not pertain much longer, based on the style of the victory of his son Artorius in the Curlin Stakes at Saratoga last week.
A winner of two of his three starts for breeder Juddmonte and trainer Chad Brown, taking a maiden on his previous outing, Artorius is likely to be seen next in the Travers, and he certainly has pedigree with a precedent of success at Saratoga. In addition to his sire's demolition of the field in the Travers, his dam Paulassilverlining ran down the swift Finley'sluckycharm to take the Honorable Miss Stakes (G2) at the Spa the following year. Paulassilverlining came into that race in a rich vein of form, her three prior starts seeing her take the Garland of Roses Stakes, Madison Stakes (G1), and Humana Distaff Stakes (G1). She'd shown good form the previous year at 4, when in addition to a third in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1), she captured the Gallant Bloom Handicap (G2), Vagrancy Handicap (G3), and Distaff Handicap (G3). A listed winner at 3, Paulassilverlining had also earned graded honors at 2, when she took the Matron Stakes (G2). She was purchased privately between the Garland of Roses and Madison by Juddmonte—owner of Arrogate and Artorius—specifically to breed to Arrogate.
A daughter of Ghostzapper, Paulassilverlining is a half sister to another New York sprint standout in Dads Caps, twice successful in the Carter Handicap (G1) at Aqueduct. She's also a half sister to stakes-placed Liza Too, dam of sprint stakes winner Long Weekend, and to All Mettle, whose daughter, Miss Interpret, took the P. G. Johnson Stakes at Saratoga in 2021. The second dam, Seeking the Silver, a daughter of Grindstone, is a full sister to the minor stakes winner Choctaw Ridge. She was out of Apache Pines, who was by Terlingua's stakes-winning full brother, Pancho Villa, out of the stakes-winning Alydar mare Alyanna. The family has been in the United States since 1927, when Artorius' female line arrived in the shape of the Bachelor's Double mare Petronella. The Tetratema filly that Petronella was carrying at the time of her importation, Tetrarchy, is ancestress of Artorious, and fourth dam of Quadrangle, who is best known for taking the 1964 Belmont Stakes with the Triple Crown-seeking Northern Dancer back in fourth, but who also won the Travers.
It may be that Petronella appealed to an American breeder because of her relationship to earlier Belmont Stakes winner and all time great Peter Pan, whose dam Cinderella was a half sister to Polka, the third dam of Petronella. This female line is a recurring motif in the family of Artorius. It's the same immediate family as that of The Tetrarch, grandsire of Tetrarchy. Imperatrice, the second dam of Secretariat, whose son Pancho Villa sired the third dam of Artorious, was heavily linebred to another branch of the family with three crosses. Pancho Villa's dam, Crimson Saint, is a granddaughter of Spy Song, a horse who was not only 3x3 to Peter Pan, but who also went back to a half sister to that horse. The family has another avenue into the pedigree of Artorius through Questionnaire, whose dam is a half sister to the third dam of Spy Song. Questionnaire's grandson, Rough'n Tumble, appears twice in Unbridled, who in turn is duplicated 3x4 in the pedigree of Artorius. Of course, there are also numerous other crosses of Peter Pan scattered through the pedigree of Artorius. In addition Artorius has an interesting mitochondrial haplotype cross, as both his sire and his dam are 'I' over 'L' mtDNA line crosses, as indeed, was Peter Pan.
