Growing up near Arlington Park, I was envious of the quality of racing found elsewhere. Sometimes you don't know how good you have it.

In 1979 I was taken by a Claiborne bred and owned chestnut 3yo filly named File. I was just getting into bloodlines, and with research discovered she was a half to SW List and Yamanin. She raced on turf at AP all that season.

Two years later, trainer Joe Bollero developed the winner of the AP Oaks, a distance loving filly named Sweetest Chant. She won 12 of 40 starts and over $400k in an era when a $100k purse was fat.

Looking at Distorted Humor's five cross, you see these two talented distaffers up close. Bred to Mr Prospector, File dropped Forty Niner. Sweetest Chant, bred to Danzig, dropped Danzig's Beauty, who produced Distorted Humor.

I went to the pedigree site to research this post, and found another interesting note. File had a half sister by Forli named Tuerta, which translates to "one-eyed" in Spanish. Tuerta, having just the one, still won graded stakes, and later produced KY Derby winner Swale (by Seattle Slew). He was trained by Forty Niner's trainer, Woody Stephens.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/15/2026 11:34AM by Gary Irish.