Friday at Santa Anita in a hotly-contested 2yo maiden, Elevado represented five generations of meticulously crafted Kentucky breeding. When the photo finish went to the colt and jockey Joel Rosario, it was the latest success for one of central Kentucky's enduring families.

Alfred and Hurst Nuckols' faith in that same line led them in January, 2016 to reacquire Elevado's dam Sign Up, a daughter of Mineshaft out of treasured Hurstland Farm broodmare Please Sign In.

With daughters of the dual Gr1 producer retired far off as England and Japan, Sign Up was reacquired to further the family legacy back home. A subsequent mating evoking Please Sign In's Oak Leaf S. winner Cry and Catch Me yielded this highly-promising Street Boss colt.

Fourth in his debut on dirt, Elevado looked right at home over the turf, making up two and a half lengths on the War Front colt Sumter inside the final furlong to prevail by a nose. The victory likely earned a Breeders' Cup nomination for the Mike Puype trainee, a $70,000 Keeneland January graduate later bought for $190,000 by Little Red Feather Racing at Fasig-Tipton's Midatlantic 2yo Sale.

Elevado is a fifth-generation descendant of blue hen mare Little Hut, dam of Habitat and Northfields, both influential sires on the global stage. The line also counts major Gr1 winning descendants Suave Dancer, Meadow Meats, and Land of Plenty, among a full page of black-type earners and producers.

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