In January 29's San Vicente Stakes (USA-G2), Forbidden Kingdom scored his first stakes win with a front-running upset over a trio of Bob Baffert trainees, including Grade 1 winner Pinehurst. The victory was a tribute to the patience of trainer Richard Mandella and jockey Juan Hernandez, who have been schooling Forbidden Kingdom to relax and not waste his abundant speed. How far those lessons will take him is anyone's guess; at this time of year, the question his connections will be asking is, far enough to make him a contender on the American Triple Crown trail?
As a son of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, Forbidden Kingdom certainly has the desired heritage on that side of his pedigree. The distaff side of his pedigree may be another question. He belongs to the family of White Jasmine, a clan that can certainly supply speed but which has shakier credentials when it comes to stamina.
White Jasmine herself was something of a surprise as an influential broodmare. She had a pedigree that was more blue-collar than fashionable. Sired by the Crimson Satan stallion Whitesburg (who won two sprint stakes as a juvenile), she was out of Red Jasmine, whose dam was a half sister to Crimson Satan. That made White Jasmine inbred 3x3 to the Chilean import Papila, a runner-up in Chile's Las Oaks, but White Jasmine had no Classic pretensions herself; her best performances were a couple of stakes placings in minor events in Michigan.
In spite of being bred mostly to moderate sires, White Jasmine produced four stakes winners (two at the Grade 3 level) as well as stakes-placed Coragil (by Metfield), dam of 2002 Churchill Downs Distaff Handicap (USA-G2) winner Softly (by Binalong) and 2008 Hanshin Cup Handicap (USA-G3) winner Coragil Cat (by Forest Wildcat). Coragil is also the second dam of 2018 Gulfstream Park Hardacre Mile Stakes (USA-G2) winner Conquest Big E (by Tapit).
White Jasmine's best racing daughter is Til Forbid (by 1980 Belmont Stakes, USA-G1, winner and American champion 3-year-old male Temperence Hill), who won the 1991 Arlington Oaks (USA-G3) and placed in four Grade 1 races at 3. Til Forbid is also White Jasmine's most important broodmare daughter, though she produced only one stakes winner herself; this was 2001 Indiana Breeders' Cup Oaks (USA-G1) winner Scoop (by Gone West, in turn the dam of Grade 3-placed multiple stakes winner Coolwind (by Forest Wildcat) and the second dam of 2013 Iowa Derby (USA-G3) winner Looking Cool (by Candy Ride).
Scoop's half sister Kings Lynn (by Mt. Livermore) was only Grade 3-placed on the track but has done well as a producer, throwing 2009 Top Flight Handicap (USA-G2) winner Sara Louise (by Malibu Moon) and 2010 Debutante Stakes (USA-G3) winner Just Louise (by Five Star Day) as well as Jabalino (by Deputy Commander), a multiple major stakes winner in Mexico. Just Louise, in turn, produced Forbidden Kingdom as her fifth foal, and has a 2020 colt by Bolt d'Oro and a 2021 filly by Not This Time waiting in the wings. She was most recently bred to multiple Grade 1 winner Tiz the Law.
Given the prizes waiting down the road, there seems no good reason not to try Forbidden Kingdom around two turns, and the colt's connections appear to be tentatively penciling in the Santa Anita Derby (USA-G1) on April 9, a 9-furlong race that offers more than enough points to guarantee its winner a Kentucky Derby starting berth. It a two-turn trial over a slightly shorter distance is desired, the San Felipe Stakes (USA-G2) at a mile and one-sixteenth on March 5 might be just the ticket and would earn points toward the Kentucky Derby as well. Yet, son of a Belmont Stakes (USA-G1) as he is, there is a distinct possibility that Forbidden Kingdom may trip over his pedigree when it comes to longer distances, for both Just Louise and Five Star Day (a son of the good sprinter Carson City) earned their primary credentials over sprint distances, as did Kings Lynn's sire Mt. Livermore. Kings Lynn was able to handle intermediate distances reasonably well, but it is not until one comes to Til Forbid---three generations back---that an animal with a taste for a bit more distance appears. Still, if the colt proves to have stamina limitations, a good sprinter-miler is nothing to be sneered at. And if Forbidden Kingdom demonstrates that he in fact combines the speed of his female family with American Pharoah's ability to carry that speed over Classic distances---and if he can be taught to relax off a potential speed duel, always a risk with a front-running sort---then he may well prove one of the more formidable colts in this year's Triple Crown series.
As a son of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, Forbidden Kingdom certainly has the desired heritage on that side of his pedigree. The distaff side of his pedigree may be another question. He belongs to the family of White Jasmine, a clan that can certainly supply speed but which has shakier credentials when it comes to stamina.
White Jasmine herself was something of a surprise as an influential broodmare. She had a pedigree that was more blue-collar than fashionable. Sired by the Crimson Satan stallion Whitesburg (who won two sprint stakes as a juvenile), she was out of Red Jasmine, whose dam was a half sister to Crimson Satan. That made White Jasmine inbred 3x3 to the Chilean import Papila, a runner-up in Chile's Las Oaks, but White Jasmine had no Classic pretensions herself; her best performances were a couple of stakes placings in minor events in Michigan.
In spite of being bred mostly to moderate sires, White Jasmine produced four stakes winners (two at the Grade 3 level) as well as stakes-placed Coragil (by Metfield), dam of 2002 Churchill Downs Distaff Handicap (USA-G2) winner Softly (by Binalong) and 2008 Hanshin Cup Handicap (USA-G3) winner Coragil Cat (by Forest Wildcat). Coragil is also the second dam of 2018 Gulfstream Park Hardacre Mile Stakes (USA-G2) winner Conquest Big E (by Tapit).
White Jasmine's best racing daughter is Til Forbid (by 1980 Belmont Stakes, USA-G1, winner and American champion 3-year-old male Temperence Hill), who won the 1991 Arlington Oaks (USA-G3) and placed in four Grade 1 races at 3. Til Forbid is also White Jasmine's most important broodmare daughter, though she produced only one stakes winner herself; this was 2001 Indiana Breeders' Cup Oaks (USA-G1) winner Scoop (by Gone West, in turn the dam of Grade 3-placed multiple stakes winner Coolwind (by Forest Wildcat) and the second dam of 2013 Iowa Derby (USA-G3) winner Looking Cool (by Candy Ride).
Scoop's half sister Kings Lynn (by Mt. Livermore) was only Grade 3-placed on the track but has done well as a producer, throwing 2009 Top Flight Handicap (USA-G2) winner Sara Louise (by Malibu Moon) and 2010 Debutante Stakes (USA-G3) winner Just Louise (by Five Star Day) as well as Jabalino (by Deputy Commander), a multiple major stakes winner in Mexico. Just Louise, in turn, produced Forbidden Kingdom as her fifth foal, and has a 2020 colt by Bolt d'Oro and a 2021 filly by Not This Time waiting in the wings. She was most recently bred to multiple Grade 1 winner Tiz the Law.
Given the prizes waiting down the road, there seems no good reason not to try Forbidden Kingdom around two turns, and the colt's connections appear to be tentatively penciling in the Santa Anita Derby (USA-G1) on April 9, a 9-furlong race that offers more than enough points to guarantee its winner a Kentucky Derby starting berth. It a two-turn trial over a slightly shorter distance is desired, the San Felipe Stakes (USA-G2) at a mile and one-sixteenth on March 5 might be just the ticket and would earn points toward the Kentucky Derby as well. Yet, son of a Belmont Stakes (USA-G1) as he is, there is a distinct possibility that Forbidden Kingdom may trip over his pedigree when it comes to longer distances, for both Just Louise and Five Star Day (a son of the good sprinter Carson City) earned their primary credentials over sprint distances, as did Kings Lynn's sire Mt. Livermore. Kings Lynn was able to handle intermediate distances reasonably well, but it is not until one comes to Til Forbid---three generations back---that an animal with a taste for a bit more distance appears. Still, if the colt proves to have stamina limitations, a good sprinter-miler is nothing to be sneered at. And if Forbidden Kingdom demonstrates that he in fact combines the speed of his female family with American Pharoah's ability to carry that speed over Classic distances---and if he can be taught to relax off a potential speed duel, always a risk with a front-running sort---then he may well prove one of the more formidable colts in this year's Triple Crown series.
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