Improbable Pedigree: Who Are the Horse’s Sire & Dam?

Getty Improbable trains on the track during morning workouts in preparation for the 145th running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 3, 2019.

Bob Baffert continues a tradition of his to load the Kentucky Derby field with his stable of elite horses. The 5-time Derby winner claimed his fifth title last year with Justify, who went on to take the Triple Crown.

This year, Justify’s stablemate Improbable ironically has high odds of bringing another championship back to Baffert’s Southern California home. The chestnut colt is tied for the 2nd-highest odds at 5-to-1 with fellow Baffert horse Roadster, and just behind the other one in Game Winner at 9-to-2.

Who are Improbable’s parents? He is the product of City Zip, a sire born in 1998, and Rare Event, a dam born in 2009. Here’s a little background on their racing history.

Improbable Pedigree: Sire & Dam Racing History

Paulick Report provides an in-depth rundown of the racing history between City Zip and Rare Event.

City Zip was a precocious runner, taking the G1 Hopeful Stakes (seven furlongs), G2 Saratoga Special Stakes (6 ½ furlongs) and Sanford Stakes (six furlongs), and G3 Tremont Stakes (5 ½ furlongs) as a juvenile. He remained a successful sprinter at three, with wins in the G2 Amsterdam Stakes (six furlongs), G3 Jersey Shore Breeders’ Cup Stakes (six furlongs), and a pair of listed stakes at six panels.

That quick-fire ability was passed on to many of City Zip’s foals, including champion sprinter Work All Week, but he was more than capable of getting high-profile two-turn runners. Among them are Canadian Horse of the Year Catch a Glimpse, Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf winner Dayatthespa, and G1 Pacific Classic winner Collected.

Rare Event, by A.P. Indy, broke her maiden going a mile on the turf, then racked up allowance wins at a mile and an eighth on the turf, a mile and a sixteenth on the dirt, and finally back to a mile on grass. A.P. Indy, a winner of the Belmont Stakes and Breeders’ Cup Classic, is a well-decorated distance sire.

Improbable is the first foal out of Rare Event.

Will this pedigree prove itself Saturday at Churchill Downs? Viewers will find out at 6:50 p.m. EST on NBC.