Awesome Again is an Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 Hall of Fame

Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame

The Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame was established in 1976 at the Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario to honor those who have made a significant contribution to the sport of harness and thoroughbred horse racing in Canada....

 Thoroughbred

Thoroughbred

The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...

 racehorse

Horse racing

Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...

. Owned and bred by Frank Stronach

Frank Stronach

Frank Stronach, CM is an Austrian-Canadian businessman. He is the founder of Magna International, an international automotive parts company based in Aurora, Ontario, Canada, and Magna Entertainment Corp., which specializes in horse-racing entertainment...

 of Newmarket, Ontario

Newmarket, Ontario

Newmarket is a town in Southern Ontario located approximately 50 km north of downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is part of the Greater Toronto Area and is connected to Toronto by freeway, and is served by three interchanges along Highway 404. It is also connected to Highway 400 via Highway 9...

, Awesome Again was sired by Deputy Minister

Deputy Minister (horse)

Deputy Minister was a Canadian-bred Thoroughbred horse racing Champion. At age two, he won eight out of his nine starts and was voted the 1981 Sovereign and Eclipse Award winner as North American Champion 2-Yr-Old, and was also voted Canada's Sovereign Award for Horse of the Year...

 and out of the 2000 Broodmare of the Year Primal Force.

Racing at age three, Awesome Again competed in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 and in Canada, where he won that country's most prestigious race, the Queen's Plate

Queen's Plate

The Queen's Plate is Canada's oldest thoroughbred horse race. It is run at a distance of 1¼ miles for 3-year-old thoroughbred horses foaled in Canada. The race takes place each summer in June or July at Woodbine Racetrack, Etobicoke , Ontario...

. At Saratoga Race Course

Saratoga Race Course

Saratoga Race Course is a Thoroughbred horse racing track in Saratoga Springs, New York, United States. It opened on August 3, 1863, and is the oldest organized sporting venue of any kind in the United States. It is typically open for racing from late July through early September.-History:John...

, he won the Jim Dandy Stakes

Jim Dandy Stakes

The Jim Dandy Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race. The Grade II race has been held annually since 1964 at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York. The race is open to horses age three, willing to race one and one-eighth miles on the dirt. It carries a purse of $500,000. Prior...

, then finished third in the Travers Stakes

Travers Stakes

The Travers Stakes is an American Grade I Thoroughbred horse race held at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York.First held in 1864, it was named for William R. Travers, the president of the old Saratoga Racing Association. His horse, Kentucky, won the first running of the Travers...

. His 1997 racing season ended after he suffered a back injury while finishing fifth in the Super Derby

Super Derby

The Super Derby is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually in September at Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, Louisiana.Inaugurated in 1980, the Super Derby is open to 3-year-olds and the distance is 1 1/8 miles on the dirt. A Grade II event, it's the richest race held at Louisiana Downs...

.

In 1998, Awesome Again went undefeated. He won all six races he entered, in the process defeating Champions

Eclipse Award

The Eclipse Award is an American thoroughbred horse racing award named after the 18th century British racehorse and sire, Eclipse. The Eclipse Awards, honoring the champions of the sport, are sponsored by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association , Daily Racing Form and the National Turf Writers...

 Silver Charm

Silver Charm

Silver Charm is an American Champion Thoroughbred race horse. Trained by Bob Baffert and ridden by Gary Stevens, Silver Charm will be remembered most for winning the 1997 Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes in the Triple Crown....

 and Skip Away

Skip Away

Skip Away , a gray Thoroughbred race horse, was named America's Champion 3 Year Old Male in 1996 and twice named America's Champion Handicap Horse...

. He came from far back to win over one of the best-ever fields assembled in the Breeders' Cup Classic

Breeders' Cup Classic

The Breeders' Cup Classic is a Grade I Weight for Age thoroughbred horse race for 3 year olds and older run at a distance of 1¼ miles on dirt. It is held annually at a different racetrack as part of the Breeders' Cup World Championships...

.

Success as a sire

Standing at stud

Horse breeding

Horse breeding is reproduction in horses, and particularly the human-directed process of selective breeding of animals, particularly purebred horses of a given breed. Planned matings can be used to produce specifically desired characteristics in domesticated horses...

 at the Midway, Kentucky

Midway, Kentucky

Midway is a city in Woodford County, Kentucky, United States. Its population was 1,620 at the 2000 census. It is located midway between Frankfort and Lexington along the single-track railroad between them. It is part of the Lexington-Fayette Metropolitan Statistical Area. The town is home to a...

 branch of owner Frank Stronach's Adena Springs Farms, Awesome Again is fast becoming an important sire

Father

A father, Pop, Dad, or Papa, is defined as a male parent of any type of offspring. The adjective "paternal" refers to father, parallel to "maternal" for mother...

. Among his most famous sons is Ghostzapper

Ghostzapper

Foaled in Kentucky on April 6 in the year 2000, the thoroughbred racehorse Ghostzapper won the Breeders' Cup Classic in 2004, outdistancing Roses in May by three lengths in a stakes record of 1:59.02...

, voted the 2004 Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year

Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year

The American Award for Horse of the Year is the highest honor given in American thoroughbred horse racing. It has been awarded since 1887 to the horse, irrespective of age, whose performance during the racing year is deemed the most outstanding....

 in the United States and the "World's Top Ranked Horse" for 2004, as compiled by the World Thoroughbred Racehorse Rankings

World Thoroughbred Racehorse Rankings

The World Thoroughbred Racehorse Rankings are compiled by the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities , an organization established in 2003 with headquarters in Paris, France made up of members from around the world....

. Awesome Again became the first Breeders' Cup Classic winner to sire a winner of that race when Ghostzapper won the Classic in 2004. Notable as well, on that same day, another son named Wilko

Wilko (horse)

Wilko is a Thoroughbred racehorse who competed in the United Kingdom and in the United States. Sired by Awesome Again, winner of the 1998 Breeders' Cup Classic, he was out of the mare, Native Roots...

 won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile

Breeders' Cup Juvenile

The Breeders' Cup Juvenile is a Thoroughbred horse race for 2-year-old colts and geldings raced on dirt. It is held annually at a different racetrack in the United States or Canada as part of the Breeders' Cup World Championships....

, making Awesome Again the first Breeders' Cup winner to sire two Breeders' Cup winners on one day.

Awesome Again is also the sire of Round Pond

Round Pond (horse)

Round Pond is a retired American Thoroughbred racehorse bred in Kentucky by Trudy McCaffery & John Toffan. The bay filly is the daughter of Awesome Again out of the mare Gift of Dance. Owned by Rick Porter's Fox Hill Farms, Round Pond was trained by Michael R...

, winner of the 2006 Breeders' Cup Distaff

Breeders' Cup Distaff

The Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic is a Weight for Age Thoroughbred horse race for fillies and mares, 3 years old and up. Known as the Breeders' Cup Distaff from its inception in 1984 through 2007, it is held annually at a different racetrack in the United States or Canada as part of the Breeders'...

, plus the filly Spun Sugar

Spun Sugar

Spun Sugar is an American thoroughbred mare racehorse. She is sired by multiple grade one stakes winner, Awesome Again who was United States Horse of the Year. He in turn was sired by another leading American sire in Deputy Minister...

, who won the 2006 Apple Blossom

Apple Blossom Handicap

The Apple Blossom Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race run each year in early April during the Racing Festival of the South at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas. The Grade I race is open to Fillies and Mares, four years old and up...

 and Go For Wand Handicap

Go For Wand Handicap

The Go For Wand Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race established in 1954 for fillies and mares age three and up. Raced at the end of July/early August, it is a Grade II race on dirt at a distance of one and one-eighth miles .Inaugurated in 1954 at Belmont Park as the Maskette Stakes in...

.

In 2007, Awesome Again became the first Breeders' Cup winner to sire four Breeders' Cup winners when Adena Springs homebred Ginger Punch

Ginger Punch

Ginger Punch is an American Thoroughbred filly racehorse. Owned and bred by operations belonging to automotive parts magnate, Frank Stronach, she is out of the mare Nappelon and sired by the Canadian-bred Awesome Again, winner of his country's 1997 Queen's Plate and the 1998 Breeders' Cup Classic...

 won the Breeders' Cup Distaff at Monmouth Park.
SI