Into Mischief

If you're in this business, chances are you're seeking 'Saturday afternoon horses.' In this new series, we will select a stallion from the previous weekend whose runners particularly impressed. We start with the sire of the most coveted prize of all: this year's GI Kentucky Derby winner. Spendthrift Farm has long called Goldencents "Into Mischief's value sire." As a member of the five-time leading sire's first crop, he was conceived on a $12,500 cover and, while quietly plying his trade with solid runners and numbers that put him at or...

12th-Churchill Downs, $125,885, Alw (NW1X)/Opt. Clm ($100,000), 5-3, 3yo, f, 6 1/2f, 1:16.08, sy, 4 1/4 lengths. ALMOSTGONE ROCKET (f, 3, Into Mischief--Bound {MSW, $419,174}, by Jump Start) became a 'TDN Rising Star' off her 11 3/4-length thrashing of the field in her Oaklawn debut Apr. 5. Adding just a half-furlong here, the 2-1 favorite sat just off the frontrunners as Mink's Palace (Palace Malice) led through fractions of :22.75 and :45.96. Once given her head, the filly unleashed a wide bid around the turn, swept right on past that...

In this continuing series, we take a look ahead at US-bred and/or conceived runners entered for the upcoming weekend at the tracks on the Japan Racing Association circuit, with a focus on pedigree and/or performance in the sales ring. Here are the horses of interest for this weekend running at Tokyo and Kyoto Racecourses: Saturday, May 4, 2024 9th-TOK, ¥34,200,000 ($223k), Allowance, 3yo, 1600m SONIC STAR (c, 3, Into Mischief--Carolina Bertie, by Speightstown), a debut winner over nine furlongs last September, was only 11th in the Cattleya S. (allowance) over...

2nd-Keeneland, $77,839, Msw, 4-25, 2yo, 5 1/2fT, 1:03.29, fm, neck. INTO DIAMONDS (c, 2, Into Mischief--Diamond Sparkles {GSP}, by War Front) was overlooked by the betting public at odds of 6-1 for his debut here. The bay settled mid-pack up the backstretch as the tone was set by fellow firster Cheval de Guerre (Caravaggio). Trying to get involved around the far turn, the colt fanned four wide at the top of the lane and uncorked a bid to catch the leader. With a final push just the before the wire,...

9th-KEE, $100k, Msw, 3yo, f, 6f, post time: 5:16 p.m. ET CHC Inc. homebred INTO AMORE (Into Mischief), a daughter of 2015 GI Alabama S. heroine Embellish the Lace (Super Saver), debuts for Todd Pletcher. Embellish the Lace brought $2.4 million from China Horse Club International at the 2016 FTKNOV sale. Drawn widest of all in post 11, Into Amore is the 7-2 morning-line favorite. Into Amore RNA'd for $295,000 as a FTKOCT yearling. The field also includes fellow first-time starter Day Dawning (Classic Empire), a $450,000 OBS March breezer....

6th-Gulfstream, $43,650, Moc ($50,000), 3yo, 1m 70y (AWT), 1:40.94, ft, 2 1/4 lengths. QUESTER (c, 3, Into Mischief--Osare {SW, $234,605}, by Medaglia d'Oro), a $775,000 Keeneland September graduate, finished off well to be a debut third sprinting over this surface and was the even-money selection while stretching out to a distance of ground here. One of two in this field not entered for the tag, the immaculately bred bay showed good speed from the inside gate, but was nevertheless outfooted to the front by Dunes of Gold (Midshipman). Content to...

7th-OP, $115k, Msw, 3yo, f, 1 1/16m, post time: 4:20 p.m. ET Having campaigned the likes of 'TDN Rising Star' Frank's Rockette, Arkansan Frank Fletcher will debut another daughter of the all-conquering Into Mischief Saturday afternoon at Oaklawn Park in the form of MISS ROCKETTE. The February foal, trained by Bob Baffert, is the first to race out of Song of Spring (Spring At Last), upset winner of the GIII Allaire du Pont Distaff in 2018, and was hammered down to Donato Lanni on behalf of Fletcher for $1.25 million...

5th-Keeneland, $97,558, Msw, 4-18, 3yo, f, 1 1/16mT, 1:41.50, fm, 1 length. WAVES OF MISCHIEF (f, 3, Into Mischief--Pearl River, by Quality Road), off as the 5-2 choice for this debut here, settled along the rail in the third position while the pace was made by Beyond Lucky (Nyquist). As the field began to bear down on the leader around the far turn, the filly--bred in part by Marty Wygod who passed away last week at the age of 84--launched her bid by tipping to the two path at the...

Champion filly Pretty Mischievous (Into Mischief) will return to the scene of her greatest triumph when she kicks off her 4-year-old campaign in the May 3 GI La Troienne S. at Churchill Downs. Pretty Mischievous won last year's GI Kentucky Oaks, a win that went a long way toward her earning an Eclipse Award as the nation's outstanding 3-year-old filly. "She's been doing great and working very well," trainer Brendan Walsh said. "We're very happy with the way she has progressed from three to four. We won't know until we...

by Jessica Martini & Stefanie Grimm OCALA, FL - The action picked up noticeably during the second session of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training and, with the auction's first seven-figure offering leading the way, figures concluded above 2023 levels Wednesday evening. "It was an excellent day," OBS Director of Sales Tod Wojciechowski said at the close of business Wednesday. "As I said yesterday, there are plenty of good horses left to be sold and obviously that was borne out today. Quality horses sell well...

His contentious prohibition from Churchill penalizes many others besides Bob Baffert and his loyal patrons. A shot at the GI Kentucky Derby, once-in-a-lifetime for most, is also being denied to everyone else with a stake in his horses' development, from those on duty at the foaling shed to the pre-trainer to the feed company. And, of course, there's nothing like a Derby winner to market a stallion. As things have turned out, a setback means that Nyquist would have lost the services of Nysos even had he moved to another...

The rankings below are independent from the "Road to the GI Kentucky Derby" leaderboard that Churchill Downs uses to determine starting berths. In addition, several horses listed here could be aiming for other Triple Crown races. 1) MUTH (c, Good Magic--Hoppa, by Uncle Mo) 'TDN Rising Star'. O-Zedan Racing Stables Inc; B-Don Alberto Corporation (KY); T-Bob Baffert. Sales history: $190,000 Ylg '22 KEESEP; $2,000,000 2yo '23 OBSMAR. Lifetime Record: MGISW, 6-4-2-0, $1,504,100. Last start: WON Mar. 30 GI Arkansas Derby. Right now there's a court showdown in Kentucky initiated by...