Into Mischief

Looks like the boys must have got on the phone last week. Having watched him throw his weight around all January, it was time to remind Not This Time that he doesn't yet control every neighborhood. The Godfather himself took charge, Into Mischief sending out sons to earn 20 GI Kentucky Derby points on either coast: Plutarch taking the GIII Robert B. Lewis Stakes, Renegade the Sam F. Davis Stakes. But he also got together with Not This Time's big rival as young pretender to put a couple of fillies...

Grade I Del Mar Oaks winner Iscreamuscream (Twirling Candy) (hip 385) provided a much-needed warm up to central Kentucky as she topped the Fasig-Tipton Winter Mixed Sale, selling to Japan's Katsumi Yoshida for $1.5 million. Consigned by Taylor Made Sales, the 5-year-old mare was undefeated in her first four starts including a win in the GII San Clemente before going on to Grade I glory. Her sales price was the highest at a Winter Mixed Sale since Zetta Z (Bernardini), the dam of 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' Nysos...

Elle Sueno (Street Cry {Ire}), already the dam of GSW/GISP Dream Lith (Medaglia d'Oro), sold to Tropical Racing for $800,000. Consigned by Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa, the mare was offered in foal to leading sire Curlin. Her 2-year-old of this year, an Into Mischief filly named Mardigras Mischief, is already part of the Tropical Racing stable as they picked her up for $500,000 as a weanling at the 2024 Fasig-Tipton November Sale.

Marc Gunderson picked up both GISP Ava's Grace (Laoban) and her yearling Into Mischief filly during Monday's Fasig-Tipton Winter Mixed Sale, going to $950,000 for Ava's Grace who is in foal to Curlin, and $625,000 for her filly just one hip later. Mother and daughter were both consigned by by Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa. The $950,000 paid for Ava's Grace already eclipses the top price of the 2025 Winter Mixed Sale when a colt by Curlin sold for $775,000.   Stakes placed AVA'S GRACE and her yearling filly by...

Mrs. John Magnier, Derrick Smith, and Michael B. Tabor's Plutarch (c, 3, Into Mischief--Stellar Wind, by Curlin) was bred to be a star--he is out of 2015's champion 3-year-old filly turned $6-million Keeneland-topping mare Stellar Wind--and he made good on that promise Saturday in the $101,000 GIII Robert B. Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita. The race was worth 20-10-6-4-2 points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby. Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert won his eighth consecutive Bob Lewis and 14th overall, going back to 1999. In 2007, the race,...

Repole Stable and Robert and Lawana Low's Renegade (Into Mischief) entered Saturday's Sam F. Davis as a high-profile, three-start maiden. After 8 1/2 furlongs in the diminishing Oldsmar daylight, the impeccably bred colt emerged as a leading Classics contender, as he turned in an irresistible late rally to score convincingly and give trainer Todd Pletcher a record-extending eighth success in the race. Carrying the Repole colors, the last-out GII Remsen Stakes runner-up was content to drop out to near the tail of the field as longshot Wayne's Law (Tiz the...

GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity runner-up Blackout Time (Not This Time) is on track to kick off his 3-year-old season in the GII Rebel Stakes Mar. 1 at Oaklawn Park, according to co-owner Lance Gasaway Saturday morning. Unraced since that second-place finish behind juvenile champion MGISW Ted Noffey (Into Mischief) at Keeneland, he had been entered in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile but was scratched by the regulatory vet because of an alleged soundness issue. Blackout Time returned to the worktab Jan. 23 at Fair Grounds and after a couple works...

The Spendthrift Farm team never wanted to run its pair of 3-year-old male 'TDN Rising Stars, presented by Hagyard', against one another during the lead-up to the GI Kentucky Derby. But that was no longer a problem when Ted Noffey (Into Mischief)--who was being pointed for the GII Fountain of Youth Stakes and the GI Florida Derby--was taken off the Trail due to bone bruising. So, that created a situation where Spendthrift's other 3-year-old star, Further Ado (Gun Runner), who is based in South Florida at Payson Park, might be...

5 - CAPTAIN SHREVE, SA, 1/31-6th, 6 furlongs  (Video) Beyer Speed Figure-78 (2nd) (g, 3, by Runhappy--Sierra Electrica, by Tapit) O/B-Kretz Racing (Ky). T-George Papaprodromou. J-Kyle Frey. If one considers Potente (below) a 3-year-old to monitor going forward, Captain Shreve has to be somewhere on the same screen. He nagged Potente from the start, drew alongside turning for home, then couldn't quite keep pace late in another legit runner-up finish (he was a debut 2nd to Secured Freedom). Rustin and Juliana Kretz are Southern Californians, but named the gelding after...

I've never understood this business of Dry January--the one month when those of us who take a glass of cheer are most grateful for a little respite from the dark and cold. Okay, maybe not a problem in California, but those of you battling all that snow and ice will surely see the merit of Dry February instead. It's shorter, for a start; and ends with the days lengthening and spring tangibly in the air. It's perfectly natural, however, for stallions to have a dry January. Certainly nobody will be...

The President of Unified Door and Hardware Group, L C Racing's Glenn Bennett has grown from a regional, Pennsylvania-based breeding program to a band of 20 which now includes the dam of an Eclipse winner. Bennett, who lives close to Parx and still brings his family to the track for days like the Pennsylvania Derby card and Owner Appreciate Day, often partners with Chuck Zacney's Cash Is King Racing (best known for campaigning MGISW Afleet Alex) along with now-retired trainer Mark Reid who Bennett credits with the genius behind these...

'TDN Rising Star' presented by Hagyard CORNUCOPIAN (c, 4, Into Mischief--Magical World, by Distorted Humor) hit a traffic jam nearing the quarter pole of a 6 1/2-furlong Santa Anita allowance on Saturday, but it proved but a minor inconvenience, as he got his feet back under him, quickly took a gap at the rail inside of a rival and was off and gone in his first start in nearly 10 months. The 1-2 chalk returning off an allowance defeat going a mile at Aqueduct last spring, the $1.1 million Keeneland...