Mercifully, for those old enough to remember it, "The Age of Disco" has long receded from the rearview mirror. Still, it was Disco Time in New Orleans this past weekend, where a horse of that name was one of two runners to maintain an undefeated record while capturing a classic trial.
In the case of Disco Time, he followed up decisive maiden special weight and allowance optional claiming wins, both at Churchill Downs in November, with a victory in the Lecomte Stakes (G3) at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots. The time for a race run over a sloppy track was some way from spectacular (1 1/16 miles in 1:47.07), but Disco Time did overcome a very wide trip to run down Built, a 6 3/4-length winner of the previous Fair Grounds trial, the Dec. 21 Gun Runner Stakes.
Disco Time is one of five stakes winners, four graded, from the recently turned 3-year-old crop by Not This Time , the first conceived after a bright start by his first 2-year-olds who hit the track in 2020. That first crop generated 17 individual stakes winners from 96 starters, including the grade 1 scorers Just One Time and Princess Noor. Not This Time is now represented by 42 stakes winners, 20 graded, and has been particularly notable for his versatility as a sire with regard to both the distance and surface capabilities of his offspring, as noted in this space concerning his outstanding long-distance son, Next, a few months ago.
PORTER: Next Showing the Versatility of Sire Not This Time
As far as Not This Time's classic distance dirt runners, we can particularly note 2022 champion 3-year-old male Epicenter , who finished second in the 2022 Lecomte Stakes (G3) before going on to occupy the same position in the Kentucky Derby (G1) and Preakness Stakes (G1), and win the Travers Stakes (G1).
The dam of Disco Time is the talented and durable Jump Start mare Disco Chick. She won 10 of 42 races at up to seven furlongs, including the 2016 Skipat Stakes, 2016 My Juliet Stakes, 2016 Foxy J G Stakes, and 2017 Regret Stakes. She also earned places in another 14 black-type contests, most notably when third in the 2016 Honorable Miss Handicap (G2). The second dam, Disco Flirt, won five times in sprints and is by the speedy Disco Rico, a successful sire in Maryland and New York.
There is very little of note in the second, third, and fourth generations of the female line, but the fifth dam is Chou Croute, the Eclipse champion sprinter of 1972, in an era before the creation of a separate award for female speedsters. Chou Croute's dam, Witherite, is the ancestress of four other grade 1 winners, most recently, Wet Paint, successful in the 2023 Coaching Club American Oaks (G1). The family goes back to the 1924 Futurity Stakes heroine, Mother Goose, who, via her granddaughter, Almahmoud, is the ancestress of such as Northern Dancer, Halo, Machiavellian, and Danehill.
Disco Time is one of seven stakes winners by Not This Time out of A.P. Indy-line mares; the others include grade 1 winner Sibelius and graded scorer Arzak. He is also inbred 3x4 to Storm Cat, with both Not This Time and the dam of Jump Start being Storm Cat/Mr. Prospector crosses.
The other Fair Ground 3-year-old stakes winner to retain an undefeated record was Simply Joking, who had the distinction of capturing the Letellier Memorial Stakes on her only other outing. In the Jan. 18 Silverbulletday Stakes, she led from the start, and after opening up by as much as three lengths, had all but a half-length of that margin in hand at the wire. Her stride did seem to be shortening late, but her jockey put that down to a lack of concentration rather than running out of stamina.
Simply Joking is by Into Mischief 's three-time grade 1 winner, Practical Joke , who's fast-climbing the commercial stallion ranks, his first four Northern Hemisphere crops producing 28 stakes winners, half of whom have scored in graded stakes, and include grade 1 winners Practical Move, Ways and Means, Domestic Product , and Chocolate Gelato. He's also had 17 stakes winners, 16 graded, and seven grade 1 from his Chilean crops, among them the imports Richi, recently victorious in the La Flores Stakes (G3), and Mufasa, who already has two United States graded stakes to his credit.
Simply Joking's dam, Imply, was extremely versatile with victories from five to 1 1/16 miles and black-type victories on dirt, turf, and all-weather surfaces, with seven of her 12 victories coming in stakes events. Imply's first foal, Drum Roll Please, took third in the 2023 Remsen Stakes (G2) at 2, and was successful in the Jerome Stakes at 3 in 2024.
Imply is a half sister to Drop a Hint, successful in the 2022 Minaret Stakes, and three times stakes-placed, including third in the 2020 Sands Point Stakes (G3T); to stakes-winning and graded-placed Dancinginthecircle; and stakes winner Advert. Imply's dam, Allude, was twice stakes-placed. She is out of Ed's Holy Cow, a half sister to one of the greatest runners of the last 50 years in Holy Bull. Horse of the Year at 3, Holy Bull won 13 of 16 starts lifetime starts, including the 1993 Futurity Stakes (G1), 1994 Florida Derby (G1), Metropolitan Handicap (G1), Haskell Invitational Handicap (G1), and Travers Stakes (G1), as well as the 1994 Hutcheson Stakes (G2), Blue Grass Stakes (G2), and Dwyer Stakes (G2). Ed's Holy Cow is also half sister to stakes winner Winnie D. and to Brandy Rose, dam of 2005 Alabama Stakes (G1) captress Sweet Symphony.
Simply Joking's broodmare sire, E Dubai, is a son of Mr. Prospector and the broad cross of Practical Joke with mares by sons and grandsons of Mr. Prospector is proving to be a highly productive one with 13 stakes winners from 132 starters (10% stakes winners to starters).
