How does a horse follow up winning the Queen’s Plate and then defeating three Triple Crown classic winners in the Breeders’ Cup Classic? By siring a couple of classic winners and Eclipse Awards champions, of course. Such is the story of Awesome Again, Canadian Hall of Famer and winner of the 1998 Breeders’ Cup Classic. His time on the racetrack shows how grit and talent can create a champion.

Deputy Minister had already sired Go for Wand and Open Mind when he covered the Blushing Groom mare Primal Force for owner Frank Stronach. Her bay colt, born March 29, 1994, was a late bloomer who did not make it to the races until late May of his 3-year-old season. Stronach did not even name the colt until right before he made his debut, finally christening him Awesome Again ahead of his debut at Hollywood Park. He was third in a seven-furlong maiden special weight and then came back 11 days later to win at 1 1/16 miles. From there, Awesome Again shipped to Woodbine for his third start, the Queen’s Plate.

Awesome Again at Adena Springs as a stallion. (Anne M. Eberhardt/BloodHorse)

Going from his first start to the 1 ¼-mile Canadian classic in five weeks was quite a jump for the Deputy Minister colt, but trainer David Hofmans’ confidence in the colt was so high that he was not surprised when Awesome Again crossed the finish line 3 1/2 lengths in front.

“He can get awfully good,” Hofmans said after the race. “This is just his third start … and he’s just going to get better.”

“This horse might be as good as Touch Gold,” Frank Stronach said of homebred Awesome Again, comparing his Queen’s Plate winner with his stablemate, also a 3-year-old colt by Deputy Minister and owned in partnership by Stronach. Touch Gold had spoiled Silver Charm’s Triple Crown bid three weeks earlier.

After his emphatic Queen’s Plate victory, Awesome Again skipped the other two legs of the Canadian Triple Crown, the Prince of Wales Stakes and the Breeders’ Stakes. Instead Awesome Again next targeted the Jim Dandy Stakes, which he won by three lengths, and then the Travers Stakes, in which he finished third behind Deputy Commander, another son of Deputy Minister who also defeated Awesome Again in the Super Derby that September. Hofmans gave the colt, who had three blockbuster wins in his six-start 3-year-old season, a break until late the following spring, when this Deputy Minister colt returned to the races after a barn change.

Frank Stronach continued his pursuit of dominating North American racing by hiring Patrick Byrne as his private trainer in January 1998. Stronach already had horses with Richard Mandella, Dan Vella, and Hofmans, who had been training Awesome Again since he arrived in his California barn the previous year, but when Byrne became Stronach Stable’s primary trainer, the Queen’s Plate winner moving from California to Byrne’s East Coast barn. The now 4-year-old made his return to racing May 22 at Churchill Downs. It was an easy seven-length victory in a one-mile allowance race and a predictor of things to come.

1998 Breeders' Cup Classic winner's circle. (BloodHorse Library/Skip Dickstein)

His next start came in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster Handicap. Awesome Again faced 1997 champion 3-year-old male Silver Charm and got the better of the previous year’s Kentucky Derby-Preakness winner, who was making his first start since winning the Dubai World Cup. Awesome Again followed with a trip to Saratoga for the Grade 1 Whitney Stakes and defeated a solid field by three lengths and then recorded open-length victories in the 1 ¼-mile Saratoga Breeders’ Cup Handicap and the Grade 3 Hawthorne Gold Cup, both in preparation for the ultimate goal in early November, the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs.

Back at the racetrack where he had twice won already that season, the field for the 1 ¼-mile Classic may have been the most stacked the race has ever seen. Silver Charm, Victory Gallop, and Touch Gold were all classic winners from the Triple Crown in 1997 and 1998. Skip Away had twice won the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup and also the previous year’s Classic. Coronado’s Quest had won both the 1998 Haskell Invitational and Travers. Gentlemen had won the 1997 Hollywood Gold Cup and Pacific Classic and entered the 1998 Classic off a runner-up finish in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, while Swain had taken the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes at Royal Ascot – twice. Running Stag had won the Group 3 Prix Gontaut-Biron at Deauville and then finished third behind Skip Away and Gentlemen in the Grade 1 Woodward Stakes. Breaking from post-position #3 with Pat Day in the saddle, Awesome Again had his work cut out for him.

Coronado’s Quest broke fastest, taking the lead and holding onto it for the first mile. Skip Away, Silver Charm, and Arch made up that first flight while Awesome Again and stablemate Touch Gold lingered toward the back of the pack. At the one-mile mark, Silver Charm and Swain made their bids as Coronado’s Quest grudgingly gave way while Awesome Again came on, too. Swain bore out badly as Silver Charm stayed straight and true, but it was not enough to hold off Day and Awesome Again, who surprised a stacked field and won by three-quarters of a length.

Awesome Again in 2004 at Adena Springs. (Anne M. Eberhardt/BloodHorse)

The Classic was the culmination of an unbeaten season and the highest note the son of Deputy Minister could exit the racetrack on as he looked toward his next career at stud.

Awesome Again stood at Stronach’s Adena Springs Farm in Kentucky, where he stood as a stallion for 20 years and sired 2013 Preakness Stakes winner Oxbow; 2019 Belmont Stakes victor Sir Winston; three-time Santa Anita Handicap winner Game On Dude; and four Breeders’ Cup winners in Ghostzapper (2004 Classic), Ginger Punch (2007 Distaff), Round Pond (2006 Distaff), and Wilko (2004 Juvenile).

Ghostzapper, the 2004 Horse of the Year, would go on to sire champions Goodnight Olive and Judy the Beauty; 2022 Canadian Horse of the Year Moira; and Stage Magic, the dam of 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify.

Awesome Again was pensioned from stud duty in 2019 and retired to Old Friends, where he passed away a year later. His legacy as a gritty and talented racehorse earned him a spot in the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame. He passed those qualities on to his progeny and through them to generations to come as Awesome Again continues to remind us all that he came by his name honestly.