Who was the best American racehorse never to win a championship? One of the heroes of my racing youth, 1957 Belmont Stakes winner Gallant Man has long been mentioned as a horse obviously superior to many who earned official championships. Like Gallant Man, Ancient Title, Best Pal, Exceller, Gun Bow, Majestic Prince, Native Diver, Precisionist, and Swoon’s Son were all deemed good enough for the Racing Hall of Fame, but never earned an official championship on the racetrack. More recently Awesome Again comes to mind as a horse with Eclipse Award credentials but no golden hardware to show for it. In 1998 the son of Deputy Minister won all six of his starts, culminating with a thrilling victory over one of the best fields ever assembled for the Breeders’ Cup Classic, but voters awarded the popular Skip Away both Horse of the Year and champion older male trophies for his seven wins in nine starts, including five Grade 1 victories to Awesome Again’s two Grade 1’s. Skip Away finished a well-beaten sixth in that Classic, with champions Silver Charm, Swain, and Victory Gallop all within a length of Awesome Again at the finish, and Coronado’s Quest only a length farther behind. That was not the only high-class performance on Awesome Again’s resume. He had beaten Silver Charm by a length in the Grade 2 Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs earlier that summer, but that had been in receipt of 14 pounds, and easily defeated the talented Tale of the Cat in the Grade 1 Whitney. But few expected Awesome Again to make up that 14-pound swing in the weights against Silver Charm, and even fewer expected either to beat the heavily favored Skip Away. :: DRF BREEDING LIVE: Real-time coverage of breeding and sales That Breeders’ Cup Classic proved an accurate forecast of the stud careers of its collection of stars. Neither Silver Charm, Swain, Victory Gallop, Coronado’s Quest nor Skip Away was a success at stud, and only Arch, who finished ninth, enjoyed anything like as good a stud career as Awesome Again. Saturday’s Grade 2 Charles Town Classic winner Something Awesome is one of 70 stakes winners by Awesome Again, who has never covered huge books of mares. That number includes Breeders’ Cup winners Ghostzapper (out of Baby Zip, by Relaunch), Ginger Punch (Nappelon, by Bold Revenue), Wilko (Native Roots, by Indian Ridge), and Round Pond (Gift of Dance, by Trempolino). Awesome Again’s curriculum vitae also includes 2013 Preakness winner Oxbow (Tizamazing, by Cee’s Tizzy), and eight other Grade 1 winners headed by $6.4 million earner Game On Dude (Worldly Pleasure, by Devil His Due). Something Awesome was bred in Kentucky by Adena Springs and races for Adena Springs owner Frank Stronach, who is also the owner-breeder of Awesome Again, his best son Ghostzapper, and champion daughter Ginger Punch. Something Awesome is the second foal to live out of Somethinaboutlaura, by Dance Floor. Somethinaboutlaura was a high-class racemare who won 18 of 34 starts in a five-year racing career, all in her native California, rising from California-bred races to consecutive victories in the Grade 2 A Gleam Invitational Handicap. Adena Springs purchased Somethinaboutlaura for $560,000, carrying her first foal by Stormy Atlantic, at the 2008 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky November sale. Adena Springs sold Somethinaboutlaura, in foal to Awesome Again, for $250,000 to L.S. Breeding and Racing four years later, and she was sold again for $150,000, in foal to Candy Ride, to Calumet Farm in 2016. :: Get breeding & sales news, Beyer info, and more delivered right to your email! Somethinaboutlaura has not produced a winner since Something Awesome, a 7-year-old gelding who has won 9 of 24 starts. Somethinaboutlaura is the only stakes winner in the first three generations along the female line, but her fourth dam, stakes-placed Hard and Fast, by Etonian, is the third dam of another star performer for Frank Stronach, Wild Rush, by Wild Again, who won both the Grade 1 Metropolitan and Carter handicaps. Hard and Fast was a member of one of the best families developed by the late Millard Waldheim’s Bwamazon Farm. Her dam, graded-placed We Try Harder, by Blue Prince, was a daughter of Nato II, by Court Martial, a mare imported by Bwamazon in the 1950s. Nato II’s descendants include top racehorses Quack, It’s Freezing, Exuberant, Likeable Style, Scat Daddy, Bundler, and To the Quick.