I'll Have Another Pedigree: Complete History on Triple Crown Hopeful

His recent successes aside, I'll Have Another wasn't born into the winner's circle. He had to work hard to get to where he is today.

The three-year-old colt is the offspring of Flower Alley and Arch's Gal Edith, two American horses both born in 2002. Flower Alley himself won the Travers Stakes and finished second in the Breeders' Cup Classic, and Flower Alley's own father, Distorted Humor, produced Kentucky Derby winner Funny Cide and Belmont winner Drosselmeyer.

Though his mother's side, Arch's Gal Edith, hasn't produced many wins, her mother and her grandmother are all the offspring of well-regarded sires; and though I'll Have Another's pedigree isn't teeming with racing talent, he comes from a long line of horses with immense speed and stamina. 

That stamina is a particularly valuable asset heading into the Belmont, which is the longest of the three Triple Crown races, at 1.5 miles. Everyone knows that I'll Have Another is fast, but to truly excel at a race like this, he'll need to be strong as well. 

The horse was originally sold in 2010 for $11,000 to Victor M. Davila at the Keeneland November Yearling Sale. In 2011, he was resold for $35,000 at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training.

That was when current owner J. Paul Reddam and I'll Have Another first met. Before the 138th running of the Kentucky Derby, Reddam famously admitted that he named the horse after his answer when he's asked by his wife if he wants more cookies, a fun fact revealed by commentators at this year's Kentucky Derby. 

After Reddam purchased the horse, he joined forces with Doug O'Neill, a Michigan native who runs the largest stable in Southern California. Though O'Neill trained Liquidity and Great Hunter for the 2007 Kentucky Derby, he didn't have a true champion on his hands until he picked up I'll Have Another in 2012.

As a three-year-old, I'll Have Another won the Robert B. Lewis Stakes in February, despite 43-1 odds against him. After that, O'Neill opted not to race the colt until nine weeks later at the Santa Anita Derby, a strategy that paid off with another win.

Then it was on to the Derby, where I'll Have Another shocked the world by winning from post position No. 19 and defeating Bob Baffert's Bodemeister, whom he trumped for a second time just two weeks later at the Preakness.

Now the unlikely champion stands to become the first Triple Crown winner since 1978, and he's done it with a jockey who raced in his first ever Derby this year, and against some of the speediest competition to hit the track in years.

In his career so far, he's made seven starts with five wins and one place for a grand total of $2,693,600. He may not be bred perfectly, but his speed and his stamina are solid enough to make him a champion once again come June 9.