BY LAURIE ROSS
Some stallions catch your eye solely on pedigree. Standing at Ocala Stud, Awesome Slew (Awesome Again – Slewfoundmoney, by Seeking the Gold) has the bloodlines, class and progeny results that keep him on Florida’s top 10 leaderboard.
AT THE RACES
Bred in Florida and campaigned by Charlotte C. Weber’s Live Oak Stud, Awesome Slew was conditioned by Mark Casse. He was successful from five furlongs to a mile-and-a-sixteenth through multiple seasons and held his own in graded company carrying his speed around two turns.
Awesome Slew won his career debut, a Monmouth Park maiden special weight by a length-and-a-quarter in June 2015. After placing fourth in the Grade 3 Sanford Stakes, he took time off to mature, then surfaced the following May as the winner of a first level, $50,000 optional claiming going six-furlongs at Monmouth.
From there, Awesome Slew jumped into the graded stakes league, winning the 2016 Smarty Jones Stakes (G3) as a 3-year-old and the Commonwealth Stakes (G3) and Ack Ack Stakes (G3) the following year. He placed in nine other graded races, including a trio of Grade 1 contests in 2017 including the Las Vegas Breeders’ Cup Mile, the Forego and Carter Handicap. He also placed in multiple Grade 2 and Grade 3 contests, including back-to-back editions of the Churchill Downs Stakes (G2).
Awesome Slew retired at the end of his 4-year-old season with a $1,223,310 bankroll and won or placed in 16 of his 23 starts.
PEDIGREE
Awesome Slew is a well-made, substantial horse with strong bone and plenty of muscle. According to Ocala Stud’s David O’Farrell, most of his foals have their “old man’s” size and clean legs.
His sire, Awesome Again (Deputy Minister – Primal Force, by Blushing Groom (FR)), was a cornerstone of Stronach Stables’ racing and breeding program.
Although he didn’t debut until age three, Awesome Again quickly made his mark, capturing Canada’s prestigious 1997 Queen’s Plate in his third start before adding the Jim Dandy (G2).
At four, he was unbeatable, sweeping a five-race season that included victories in the Stephen Foster (G2), Whitney Handicap (G1), Saratoga Breeders’ Cup Handicap (G2), and Hawthorne Gold Cup (G3).
He closed his career with a memorable victory in the 1998 Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1), defeating 1997 champion 3-year-old Florida-bred Silver Charm by three-quarters of a length in one of the deepest fields in Breeders’ Cup history. The lineup included eight millionaires, multiple winners of all three Triple Crown races, and Florida-bred Skip Away, the defending Classic champ, who earned 1998 Horse of the Year honors. Awesome Again compiled a record of nine wins with three thirds in 12 starts and $4,374,590 bankroll.
A frequent presence among North America’s leading sires, Awesome Again produced 726 winners and 70 stakes winners, including 15 Grade 1 winners, and became the first Breeders’ Cup winner to sire four Breeders’ Cup winners, two in the same year. His champions include 2004 U.S. Horse of the Year and sire Ghostzapper, and 2007 Champion Older Mare, Ginger Punch.
Known for passing along size, stamina and the kind of competitive mindset needed to succeed at the highest level, Awesome Again’s influence earned him an Intermediate/Classic Chef-de-Race designation.
Awesome Slew descends from a strong distaff line of domestic and international blacktype earners. His first three damsires, Seeking the Gold (Mr. Prospector), Seattle Slew (Bold Reasoning) and Nureyev (Northern Dancer) are out of Rene-de-Course mares and represent the top three prominent bloodlines.
Awesome Slew’s dam Slewfoundmoney (Seeking the Gold – Borodislew, by Seattle Slew) was a later maturing type and hit her stride as a mid-season 3-year-old, winning or placing in six stakes between six furlongs and a mile-and-70-yards. She completed her 19-race career placing in the Top Flight Handicap (G2) and First Lady Stakes (G3), retiring with $184,591 in earnings.
Four of Slewfoundmoney’s nine foals earned blacktype status, including the multiple stakes-winning turf miler, He’s Bankable (by Arch) and Souper Lucky (by Giant’s Causeway), who placed in multiple stakes between a mile to a mile-and-an-eighth, including the Westchester (G3). Awesome Slew’s three-quarter brother Souper Jackpot (Ghostzapper) is a stakes placed miler.
A full sister to Grade 3 heroine Seeking Slew and a half-sister to 2004 Bold Grade 3-winner and sire, Canadian Frontier (by Gone West), Slewfoundmoney, is out of Borodislew (Seattle Slew – Breath Taking (FR), by Nureyev). A multiple graded winner in France and the United States from seven furlongs to mile-and-a-sixteenth over the turf and dirt, Borodislew’s resume includes a thrilling head victory in the 1996 Hawthorne Handicap (G2) over that year’s eventual Champion Older Mare Jewel Princess and Grade 1 heroine Urbane. She hit the board in 17 of 28 starts and earned $679,781.
Awesome Slew’s third dam Breath Taking (Fr) (Nureyev – Cap d’Antibes (AUS), by Better Boy (Ire)) was a multiple Group 3-winning sprinter in France, beating the boys in the Prix Eclipse, and she placed in the prestigious Group 1 Prix de la Foret in mixed company.
Awesome Slew’s damsire, the royally bred Seeking the Gold (Mr. Prospector – Con Game, by Buckpasser) a product of the famed Phipps family bloodlines, is one of the most influential sons of Mr. Prospector. A producer of 182 blacktype winners, he was a top ten broodmare sire for several years.
As a damsire, Seeking the Gold’s offspring include 2010 Champion Older Horse Blame (Arch) and the Grade 1 winning sprinter Better Lucky (Ghostzapper), who is bred on the same cross as Awesome Slew.
AT STUD
The leading first through third crop and a top ten sire for the last three years, Awesome Slew conveys key traits embedded in his pedigree: soundness, tactical speed and class. To date, Awesome Slew has sired a dozen black type earners.
His leading earner, R Disaster (Making Havoc, by Gottcha Gold), destroyed rivals in the Grade 3 Hurricane Bertie by five-and-a-half lengths on March 7. The 5-year-old mare has never finished out of the money in 14 career starts and has amassed $720,890 as a multiple Grade 2 winner.
Not to be outshone, his son Hades (The Shady Lady, by Quality Road), captured the Grade 3 Holy Bull in 2024 defeating eventual Grade 1 hero Domestic Product and 2023 American champion juvenile Fierceness. Hades placed in five other stakes, including the Grade 3 Dwyer and has a career bankroll of $441,240 from 18 starts.
In 2022, Awesome Slew’s son Awesome Strong (Pleasant Ring, by Pleasant Tap) swept the FTBOA Florida Sire Stakes, taking the $100,000 Dr. Fager, $200,000 Affirmed and $400,000 In Reality, for juvenile colts by a combined nine-and-a-quarter lengths.
“The best thing about Awesome Slew is that he just keeps siring winners,” O’Farrell said. “He gets racehorses and that’s what the game’s about.”
Awesome Slew is standing the 2026 season for $4,000 stands and nurses.
Return to the March 24 issue of Wire to Wire
