Pedigree

Mushka, a $1.6 million yearling purchase, boasts a pedigree gleaming with classic credentials. She is from the first crop of 2003 Belmont S. (G1) winner Empire Maker, who promises to be a significant source of stamina. A son of 1990 Kentucky Derby (G1) winner and champion Unbridled and Broodmare of the Year Toussaud, Empire Maker was bred to be a star. He began to live up to his inordinate potential with a 9 3/4-length triumph in the Florida Derby (G1), and after a narrow score in the Wood Memorial S. (G1), he was sent off as the 5-2 favorite in the Kentucky Derby. Empire Maker was perhaps affected by a problematic hoof in the days leading up to the Run for the Roses, but in any event, he was unable to overhaul Funny Cide and settled for second. The dark bay got his revenge in the 1 1/2-mile Belmont, though, before retiring with nearly $2 million in earnings. The Mr. Prospector-line sire Empire Maker is already making a mark with his first runners in 2007, including Hollywood Starlet S. (G1) and Alcibiades S. (G1) queen Country Star, another Kentucky Oaks (G1) hopeful.

Mushka is the first foal from the stakes-winning mare Sluice, who bankrolled $202,453 while spending nearly all of her career on the turf. She captured the Misty Isle S. at Arlington Park as a sophomore, and the following season, she placed in a pair of stakes, including the Kentucky Cup Ladies Turf S. at Kentucky Downs. Sluice is by noted sire Seeking the Gold. Among Mr. Prospector's best sons at stud, Seeking the Gold has sired more than 80 stakes winners, including such champions as Dubai Millennium, Heavenly Prize and Flanders. Seeking the Gold's daughters have produced such top-class performers as Surfside, Pine Island, Excellent Art (GB), Good Reward, Pomeroy, Riskaverse and Criminologist. Interestingly, the cross of Empire Maker on a Seeking the Gold mare results in 4 x 3 inbreeding to mega-sire Mr. Prospector.

Sluice is herself out of multiple Grade 1 heroine Lakeway, an earner of $965,330 from her exceptional 14-7-3-3 record. Lakeway garnered such prestigious events as the Mother Goose S. (G1), Santa Anita Oaks (G1), Hollywood Oaks (G1), and Las Virgenes S. (G1), and she suffered her first career loss when just missing by a head in the 1994 Kentucky Oaks. A daughter of 1977 Triple Crown maestro Seattle Slew, Lakeway is out of a mare by Alydar, who will forever be remembered for waging his unsuccessful battles with Affirmed in the 1978 Triple Crown. Moreover, Mushka's fourth dam is a full sister to Bold Forbes, hero of the 1976 Kentucky Derby and Belmont. Reaching even further back into the mists of time, Mushka is a direct female-line descendant of Nellie L., victress of the 1943 Kentucky Oaks, and champion Nellie Morse, the last filly to win the Preakness S. in 1924 and runner-up in that year's Kentucky Oaks.