Leslie's Lady

It was inevitable Into Mischief would be featured early on in our 'Saturday Sires' series, as his picture would probably be next to the phrase in the dictionary if the term appeared there. The five-time leading sire has now surpassed the remarkable threshold of 150 stakes winners with yet another graded winner this past weekend. Maybe it's a coincidence the phrase 'Saturday afternoon horses' came in vogue around the rise of Into Mischief, but maybe it isn't. After all, he practically invented the term. More than any other horse in...

If ever there was a horse whose CV matches his pedigree, it is Mendelssohn. He topped the Keeneland September sale on a bid of $3 million from Coolmore in 2016, the year before he captured the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf. And that pedigree? When he won the Breeders' Cup, he pushed his dam, the reigning Broodmare of the Year Leslie's Lady, into rare territory: she became what was then one of five mares to produce two Breeders' Cup winners. The year prior, her multiple champion daughter Beholder had captured...

10th-Churchill Downs, $120,000, Msw, 5-20, 3yo/up, f/m, 5 1/2f, 1:04.98, ft, head. LADY IRENE (f, 3, Kantharos--Leslie's Lady {Broodmare Of The Year, SW, $187,014}, by Tricky Creek), racing in her second start but under Lasix for the first time, was a debut third last fall at Churchill Downs before being turned out for the winter. Sent on her way here as the 6-5 heavy favorite, the bay filly dueled early with Little Hot Mess (Army Mule), then backed off before the far turn. Saving her strength, the homebred began to...

10th-CD, $120K, Msw, 3yo/up, f, 5 1/2f, 5:26 p.m. As the last foal out of blue-hen broodmare Leslie's Lady (Tricky Creek), LADY IRENE (Kantharos) has a pedigree second to none. Her trio of illustrious half-siblings hardly need an introduction but are none other than 4x Eclipse winner Beholder (Henny Hughes), GISW & sire Mendelssohn (Scat Daddy), and perennial leading general sire Into Mischief (Harlan's Holiday). Retained by her breeder Clarkland Farm, Lady Irene debuted with an on-the-board closing finish under the Twin Spires last Nov. She picks up Lasix Saturday...

1st-CD, $120K, Msw, 2yo, 7f, 1:00 p.m. EDT Whisper Hill Farm and Three Chimneys Farm homebred SHOPPER'S REVENGE (Tapit) is one of several well-bred juveniles debuting on this card. The gray is out of three-time Grade I winner and multi-millionaire Stopchargingmaria (Tale of the Cat), whose career highlight was a win in the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff. Three Chimneys acquired the mare for $2.8 million at the conclusion of her career at the 2016 FTKNOV sale and re-offered her at that auction two years later carrying a Tapit colt. Mandy...

It's not a too common occurrence for sales-topping purchases to make it on the track despite the world of promise their pedigree, physical, and connections might imply. Further out still is the extraordinary feat of reproducing themselves or--at the very least--producing several runners of equitable talent between them, though stallions have the task on significantly easier asking than do the fillies and mares. Mendelssohn is patiently inching closer to changing that outlook and his Del Mar winner from last Saturday proves the stallion can get a promising runner at any...

This whole industry, as I've often remarked, turns on a delicate pivot. We need pedigree to hold up sufficiently for the big investors to stay in the game, and incidentally to keep the rest of us in business; but we also need a sufficient number of unaccountable aberrations for the little guy to feel he always has some kind of chance, as well. If the top lot at Keeneland September Book I won the GI Kentucky Derby every year, then almost the whole pyramid beneath would collapse. But nor can...

Curlin to Mischief (Curlin--Leslie's Lady, by Tricky Creek), who hails from one of the most prominent families in Thoroughbred racing, has been retired from stud duties at Rancho San Miguel, Climax Stallions announced Monday. A half-brother to champion Beholder (Henny Hughes) and super-sire Into Mischief (Harlan's Holiday, Curlin to Mischief is the sire of two regional champions during his stud duties has been recently plagued by infertility. Curlin to Mischief will now have the opportunity to live out his days in a new role as an amateur friendly riding horse...

Yes, despite everything, life really is good. I know that the industry press is currently saturated with the contention of attorneys, rather than racehorses. And I know that our sport, in the process, is squandering much of the cultural capital that should instead have been invested in the two compelling talents squaring up at Gulfstream Saturday. Yet perhaps one of the protagonists will not just put all these tawdry sagas aside, however briefly, but also pay a timely tribute to a mare who could get anyone interested in the game....

Clarkland Farm's 2016 Broodmare of the Year Leslie's Lady (Tricky Creek--Crystal Lady, by Stop the Music), whose produce include leading sire Into Mischief (Harlan's Holiday) and four-time Eclipse Award winner Beholder (Henny Hughes), died Jan. 24 at the farm, the Blood-Horse reports. She was 26 years old. Bred in Kentucky by David Hager II, Leslie's Lady was an $8,000 short yearling purchase from Hager's Idle Hour Farm at Keeneland January in 1997 and was acquired by owner James T. Hines for $27,000 from the Margaux Farm draft at the Keeneland...

Nancy Mitchell of Clarkland Farm died peacefully Nov. 3 at the Kentucky homestead that has been in her family since 1774. She was 83. Blood-Horse first reported Mitchell's passing. In lieu of flowers, the family has requested donations in Mitchell's honor to the Alzheimer's Association or Central Kentucky Riding for Hope. Running Clarkland for nearly a half-century alongside her husband, Fred, and daughter, Marty Buckner, Nancy and the team have been major consignors at Kentucky sales for decades. Clarkland has bred, raised and sold many top-class runners, including the two-time...

Clarkland Farm homebred MARR TIME (Not This Time), the penultimate foal out of outstanding blue hen Leslie's Lady (Tricky Creek), made her debut a winning one at Keeneland and earned the 'TDN Rising Star' tag in the process. Showing good early speed, the 3-5 chalk sparred with 20-1 longshot Roll Baby (Runhappy) through a :22.84 opening quarter. Shaking off that foe on the backstretch, the bay jumped clear in the lane to win going away by 2 3/4 lengths. Dame Joviale (Into Mischief) was the runner-up. Marr Time is the...