Horses that complete an undefeated career at the highest level are rare indeed, so it's unusual to find that Arabian Lion , who captured the Woody Stephens Stakes (G1) June 10, has two such horses within the first three generations of his pedigree.
The first of those is Justify , who holds a unique place as the only horse to retire as an undefeated winner of the U.S. Triple Crown. Arabian Lion is a member of his first crop—now 3—and with his Woody Stephens victory, Arabian Lion owns the honor of becoming his sire's first grade 1 winner.
Overall, Justify has eight stakes winners from that first Northern Hemisphere crop, including other graded stakes winners Champions Dream and Just Cindy in North America, and Statuette and Aspen Grove in Europe. There are also nine black-type placed horses, including Verifying , runner-up in the Champagne Stakes (G1) and Blue Grass Stakes (G1) and a close second in the Matt Winn Stakes (G3) on Saturday. Justify also shuttles to Australia, and he's currently the leading freshman sire there for the 2022-23 season with a trio of stakes winners, two graded.
Considering the impression Arabian Lion made on his debut—a three-length victory in a six-furlong maiden at Santa Anita Park last October, it's actually something of a surprise that it's taken him so long to score his first major stakes success. In fact, for a while he appeared to be something of a disappointment, as after that eye-catching opening, he suffered four straight defeats. In his two subsequent juvenile outings, he was narrowly defeated by Giant Mischief in an allowance on the Breeders' Cup undercard, and then faded to a very disappointing fifth in the Los Alamitos Futurity (G2).
This term he kicked off with a well-beaten fourth in the Robert B. Lewis Stakes (G3), but ran a much better race when beaten just half a length by First Mission in the Lexington Stakes (G3), with Sunday's Matt Winn Stakes (G3) winner, Disarm, in third. Arabian Lion confirmed that he had turned a corner in his next start, taking the Sir Barton Stakes on the Preakness Stakes (G1) undercard in a fashion that suggested he would have been a serious factor had he instead contested the classic. In the Woody Stephens, the chestnut took another step forward, scoring by 1 3/4 lengths from the previously undefeated Drew's Gold.
Arabian Lion is out of the Distorted Humor mare Unbound. Foaled in the U.S., Unbound was exported to Japan, where she won three of 10 starts. Repatriated to the U.S. as a 5-year-old, she started twice, taking second in the Punkin Pie Stakes at Belmont Park in the first of those outings. Unbound is a sister to the dam of another current standout, her fellow stakes-placed performer Mary Rita, who is represented by Major Dude, who was successful in the Pilgrim Stakes (G2) last year and who has established himself as one of the top 3-year-old turf runners of 2023 with wins in the Penn Mile Stakes (G2) and Kitten's Joy Stakes (G3).
Possibility, the dam of Unbound and Mary Rita, is as well bred a mare as one could hope to find. A daughter of A.P. Indy, she is out of champion Personal Ensign, a foal of 1984 who is generally recognized as the first North American racehorse to complete an undefeated career at the highest level since Colin nearly 80 years earlier. Personal Ensign's career is made even more remarkable by the fact that after winning her first two starts at 2, the second of which was the Frizette Stakes (G1), she fractured her right hind pastern. The injury was operated on by Dr. Larry Bramlage, and with five screws inserted Personal Ensign was able to return to the track at 3 in time to win a pair of allowance races, then taking the Rare Perfume Stakes (G2) and Beldame Stakes (G1).
Returning at 4, Personal Ensign added another seven victories, including the Molly Pitcher Handicap (G2), Maskette Stakes (G1), Shuvee Handicap (G1), Hempstead Handicap (G1), Beldame Stakes (G1), Whitney Handicap (G1)—in a three-horse field completed by that year's champion Sprinter, Gulch, and the prolific King's Swan—and on her final outing, a last-gasp tally over that year's Kentucky Derby (G1) heroine, Winning Colors, in the Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1).
At stud, Personal Ensign proved to be every bit as good a producer as she was a runner, earning broodmare of the year honors in 1996. Three of her offspring captured grade 1 events: My Flag scored four times at that level, including the Coaching Club American Oaks and Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies; Miner's Mark's successes included the Jockey Club Gold Cup; and Traditionally annexed the Oaklawn Handicap. Another son of Personal Ensign, Our Emblem (by Mr. Prospector and therefore a brother to Miner's Mark and Traditionally), was grade 1-placed, and sired the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner War Emblem. Overall, Personal Ensign is already ancestress of 35 stakes winners, also including champion 2-year-old filly Storm Flag Flying (out of My Flag) and other grade 1 winners Mr Speaker and Seeking the Soul .
Personal Ensign was out of the Hoist the Flag mare Grecian Banner, also dam of Personal Ensign's multiple grade 1 winning brother, Personal Flag. The granddam, Dorine, was imported by Ogden Phipps (breeder of Personal Ensign and Grecian Banner) from Argentina, where she was champion sprinter. Bred on the same cross as the brilliant Forli (best known in North America as sire of Forego), Dorine was out of Doria, herself twice a champion in Argentina.
Although we've said undefeated horses are a rarity, Arabian Lion does have two—Nearco and Eclipse—in his direct male line. His pedigree also features Danzig—who went 3-for-3, although he never started in a black-type event; Raise a Native, a champion 2-year-old who was perfect through four starts; and Ribot, bred, like Nearco, by Federico Tesio, and unbeaten in 16 races, including back-to-back runnings of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.
