Exploring Clever Pedigrees of Miss Vyvyanne, Lagynos

Racing class in the immediate ancestry is well established to be the most significant factor influencing the potential for a mating to produce a quality runner. The pedigree match is not unimportant, but numerous examples exist of a clever pedigree pattern upgrading a modest commercial background, and June 27 offered two good examples. The first we will consider is Miss Vyvyanne. As recently as June 28, 2025, she was haltered for $32,000 after capturing a 5-furlong allowance optional claiming event by 3 1/2 lengths. She failed to fire in her first start for her new connections, but the now-6-year-old mare quickly found her stride, winning four of her next five outings, all in allowance optional claiming or handicap company. That progression proved transformative: just 12 months after scoring in claiming company, she was sent off as the favorite against males in the June 27 Highlander Stakes (G2T), where she delivered a commanding front-running victory by 2 lengths. Miss Vyvyanne now has the distinction of being the sole black-type performer from the 45 foals and 33 starters produced from six crops by her sire Rainbow Heir. A New Jersey-bred son of Wildcat Heir, Rainbow Heir won his first four starts, the last of which came in the 2013 Jersey Shore Stakes (G3). He went on to add a further eight stakes victories, the last of those coming in the 2018 Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint Stakes as an 8-year-old. Remarkably, Rainbow Heir then stood his first season at Ocala Stud that spring before returning to the track in the fall to place third in the Turf Monster Stakes (G3T) and start in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1T). He returned to Ocala Stud for two more seasons and then was relocated to Shamrock Farm in Maryland for 2021. In 2024, Rainbow Heir was pensioned and relocated to Old Friends near Lexington. Miss Vyvyanne is the second foal of the Half Ours mare Caribean Beat, who made 20 starts from 3 to 7 and, at her best, was good enough to win a New York-bred first-level allowance over a mile on the turf at Belmont Park. Caribean Beat was one of six winners—none of whom achieved black-type status—for her dam Mary Livermore. A daughter of Mt. Livermore, Mary Livermore displayed strictly limited ability in her seven starts, coming closest to the winner's circle when beaten three-quarters of a length in a maiden special weight at Fairplex Park. Despite her shortcomings as a runner, Mary Livermore was well bred, being a half sister to a trio of black-type winners, headed by graded stakes scorers Fiscally Speaking and Madame Pandit. Runner-up in the 1998 Santa Monica Handicap (G1), Madame Pandit went on to become the dam of 2005 Gamely Handicap (G1) heroine Mea Domina and the granddam of six additional stakes winners, most notably McCraken, winner of the 2016 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2) and runner-up in the 2017 Haskell Invitational Stakes (G1). Mary Livermore's dam Tuesday Evening is by 1970 champion older horse Nodouble and was a sister to minor stakes winner M. Double M. and bred similarly to grade 2 winner Double Discount and stakes winner Chain Store, both by Nodouble out of Tuesday Evening's granddam General Store. An exceptional foundation mare, General Store is the ancestress of 97 stakes winners, no fewer than 19 of them group or grade 1 winners. Among them are 2024 Epsom Derby (G1) winner City of Troy; Al Bahathri, winner of the 1985 Irish One Thousand Guineas (G1) and dam of 2004 English Two Thousand Guineas (G1) and Champion Stakes (G1) winner Haafhd; Havana Grey (GB); Gladiatorus; Red Cadeaux; and Lord Shanakill. Wildcat Heir, the grandsire of Miss Vyvyanne, is by Forest Wildcat (a son of Storm Cat) out of a mare by Pentelicus. Half Ours, Miss Vyvyanne's broodmare sire, is a son of Unbridled's Song (by Unbridled, who is bred similarly to Pentelicus) out of a mare by Storm Cat, creating a reverse cross to Wildcat Heir. It's likely that the explanation for much of Miss Vyvyanne's ability lies in recombining two strains that obviously have an affinity through two speedy close ancestors. Lagynos Like Miss Vyvyanne, Lagynos is an older turf horse who captured a Saturday graded stakes to extend an impressive sequence. Also like Miss Vyvyanne, he is by a speedy Storm Cat-line stallion who began his career in Florida before moving elsewhere. Unlike Miss Vyvyanne, however, Lagynos has competed in stakes company since the early stages of his career, with his first black-type appearance coming in the 2024 Smarty Jones Stakes on the first day of his 3-year-old season. His first stakes win came in November of that year, when he captured the Commonwealth Turf Stakes (G3T), a victory he immediately followed with success in the Woodchopper Stakes. Those two wins were followed by a quieter period, during which Lagynos won just one of his next nine attempts, that being the restricted Tapit Stakes at Kentucky Downs. The chestnut has turned a corner this year, however, and after finishing second in the Colonel E. R. Bradley Stakes, he has added the Fair Grounds Stakes (G3T), Muniz Memorial Classic Stakes (G2T), Opening Verse Stakes, Arlington Stakes (G3T) and, most recently, the Wise Dan Stakes (G2T). Having realized $200,000 as a 2022 Keeneland September Yearling Sale purchase, Lagynos is a less extreme example of the phenomenon under discussion, but the fact remains that he is by a stallion who currently stands for $10,000 and is out of an unraced mare, with a catalog page that, prior to Lagynos himself, showed just three stakes winners under the first three dams. Lagynos' sire is Kantharos, a son of the Tale of the Cat stallion Lion Heart, who retired to Vinery Florida in 2011 after winning all three of his starts, including the 2010 Bashford Manor Stakes (G3) and Saratoga Special Stakes (G2). Transferred to Ocala Stud ahead of the 2013 breeding season, a strong start with his first crop (foals of 2012) earned him a move to Hill 'n' Dale Farms at Xalapa near Paris, Ky., standing his first season there in 2017. Kantharos has now sired 47 stakes winners from his first 12 crops (3 years old and up), 12 of them graded stakes winners. They include World of Trouble, winner of the 2019 Jaipur Invitational Stakes (G1T) and Carter Handicap (G1); 2019 Dubai Golden Shaheen (G1) winner X Y Jet; and additional grade 2 winners Bucchero—himself the sire of 2025 champion male sprinter Book'em Danno—Bay Storm, Ancient Secret, Our Shot, and Lady Grace. Steamy, the dam of Lagynos, was unraced, but she has produced a previous high-quality runner by another relatively inexpensive sire in the Pollard's Vision son Vision Perfect, winner of six black-type events, headed by the 2018 Parx Dash Stakes (G3T). A daughter of Speightstown, Steamy is a three-quarters sister to the Mr. Greeley gelding Mr Gruff, twice a winner of the San Simeon Handicap (G3T) in 2009-10 and grade 1-placed. Both are out of the 2000 Miss Grillo Stakes (G3T) winner Ruff. There is little else of note under the next three dams, but the sixth dam, Fabiola, is the ancestress of several stakes winners, including Admire Rakti, Japanese-trained winner of Australia's 2014 Caulfield Cup (G1), and the 1995 Oak Leaf Stakes (G1) winner Tipically Irish. The family traces back to Far Star, a very close relative of Blue Larkspur, who won the 1933 Arlington Futurity and Debutante Stakes and finished second in the 1934 Kentucky Oaks. Looking at the pedigree pattern, Lagynos' paternal great-grandsire Tale of the Cat is by Storm Cat out of a Mr. Prospector mare, while his broodmare sire Speightstown is by a son of Mr. Prospector out of a Storm Cat mare, forming a reciprocal cross, again through two fast ancestors.