A Dramedy is, apparently, "a genre of dramatic works in which plot elements of drama and comedy." As such, Dramedy might well be an appropriate name for the sire of Mighty Heart, winner of this year's running of North America's oldest Thoroughbred race, the Queen's Plate.
The race itself delivered plenty of drama as the one-eyed Mighty Heart shot to a lead he would never relinquish, and which grew to 7 1/2 lengths by the time he stopped the clock in 2:01.98, the fastest time for the 10-furlong test since the track switched from dirt to all-weather prior to the 2007 renewal.
And like Queen Victoria, for whom the race was originally named, while winning trainer Josie Carroll may have been "not amused" she could surely have found at least a little dark humor in the fact that she ran one-two with long-shot Mighty Heart, whose only previous victory in four starts had come in a maiden, and Belichick, who had only a third and second to show in his previous starts, while her third runner, the Woodbine Oaks Presented by Budweiser heroine and Queen's Plate favorite Curlin's Voyage, could only manage fifth.
There is also a little dramatic irony in the fact that while Curlin's Voyage owns a pedigree befitting a classic winner—she's by Curlin out of a full sister to grade 1 winner Stormello—Mighty Heart comes from a much more obscure background.
He's a member of the first crop sired by Dramedy, a horse who stood in two different states in his four seasons in the U.S., and who served in Saudi Arabia in 2020. A half brother to the Haskell Invitational Stakes (G1) winner and Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) runner-up Bluegrass Cat, Dramedy didn't appear in public until the November of his 3-year-old season, when he took a maiden over a mile on the dirt at Aqueduct Racetrack. He ran once more that year, finishing third in an allowance event at Santa Anita Park, but then disappeared from action for the best part of 16 months. Successful in an allowance event in 2014, Dramedy remained in training at 6, and at that age gained his sole black-type success scoring by a neck in the Dixiana Elkhorn Stakes (G2T) over 12 furlongs on turf at Keeneland.
Dramedy began his stud career at War Horse Place near Lexington, but as a (very) late-maturing staying turf horse, predictably attracted little custom, and 2018 saw him at River Oaks Farm, near Sulphur, Okla. He spent two seasons there, before moving on to Saudi Arabia for this season. Mighty Heart is one of only 17 foals in his first crop, of which are 15 starters, nine winners, with Southgate taking the Iowa Stallion Futurity Stakes to precede Mighty Heart as a black-type winner.
Dramedy's sire, Distorted Humor, has proved an exceptional broodmare sire, but he's been more of an enigma as a sire of sires. His first major sons to stud in Kentucky were Sharp Humor, Flower Alley, Any Given Saturday, and Drosselmeyer. None of these were able to establish themselves as permanent features in the Bluegrass, however: Sharp Humor went to South Korea; Flower Alley did get I'll Have Another, winner of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes (G1), but was still exported to South Africa; Any Given Saturday was represented by a pair of grade 1 winners in the durable Hoppertunity and Mongolian Saturday, successful in the TwinSpires Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1T), but also went to South Korea; Drosselmeyer failed to sire a U.S. graded stakes winner in five crops sired here, but has done well in Brazil, where he has 27 stakes winners in four crops, including Jolie Olimpica, who was imported to the U.S. and has been twice a graded scorer in California this year.
By way of contrast some of his less expected sons have outperformed expectations. Maclean's Music who won his only start, while running the highest Beyer Speed Figure ever for a debutant, sired the Preakness Stakes (G1) winner Cloud Computing in his first crop, the Champagne Stakes (G1) victor Complexity in his third, and is currently represented by Jackie's Warrior , spectacular winner of the Saratoga Special Stakes (G2) and Runhappy Hopeful Stakes (G1). The Malibu Stakes (G2) winner Jimmy Creed has 12 stakes winners, four graded in his first two crops. Another inexpensive Kentucky-based son, Alternation , is responsible for Serengeti Empress, heroine of the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) last year and Ballerina Stakes (G1) this term. Florida's Distorted Humor duo, Khozan and Brethren , currently rank first and third on that state's 2020 sire's list, and grade 1-placed Fortify is enjoying spectacular success in Argentina, where he has five grade 1 winners in his first three crops.
Mighty Heart is the third foal and third winner for his dam, Emma's Bullseye. It's hard to assess exactly how good a racemare Emma's Bullseye was as she made just one start, but she appears to have owned at least a reasonable degree of talent, since she took that event, a five-furlong $50,000 maiden claimer for juveniles at Woodbine, by five lengths.
Emma's Bullseye doesn't have any black-type under her first two dams, the first being unraced, but she does have quite an interesting pedigree. She is by the unraced City Place, a son of Storm Cat and millionaire Glitter Woman. City Place's second dam, Carols Folly, is by the fast In Reality horse Taylor's Falls, and Emma's Bullseye's granddam, April's Luci, is by Taylor's Falls' brother Sunny Clime.
April's Luci is half sister to the stakes-winning sprinter Unreal Moment, and to the dam of Smile Sprint Handicap (G2) scorer Mach Ride, whose sire, Pentelicus, also introduced In Reality, as his dam was by that horse. April's Luci's granddam, the stakes placed First of Dawn, is ancestress of 25 stakes winners, including other graded scorers Bay to Bay, Whimsy, J J's Lucky Train, and Suave Aramis.
The family arrived in the U.S. from England in the shape of the mare Purim, who was imported as a yearling and went on to win six of 50 starts. Other descendants of Purim's granddam, April View, to make their presence felt in the U.S. include champion turf female April Run, the Metropolitan Handicap (G1) scorer Czaravich, and Honor Glide, winner of the Sword Dancer Handicap (G1T) and Secretariat Stakes (G1T). April View also features in the female line of Irish One Thousand Guineas (G1)-winning half siblings Front Row and Black Satin, and Possessive Dancer, successful in the Irish Oaks (G1) and Italian Oaks (G1).
As regards Mighty Heart's pedigree pattern, we can note that Dramedy's sire and second dam are both products of the ubiquitous Mr. Prospector/Northern Dancer cross, as is Northern Afleet, the sire of Mighty Heart's second dam, while Mighty Heart's dam is an extended Northern Dancer/Mr. Prospector cross.
