Into Mischief

Flashy Authentic (Into Mischief) emerged from Saturday's GII San Felipe S. as the still-unbeaten Bob Baffert trainee with a stylish performance as part of another big day for his superstar sire. Well-regarded Honor A. P. (Honor Code) and champion 2-year-old Storm the Court (Court Vision) were second and third, respectively, while Authentic's stablemate Thousand Words (Pioneerof the Nile) came under a ride early and checked in fourth. Into Mischief was also responsible for Saturday's GIII Gotham S. winner Mischievious Alex at Aqueduct, and an exciting 'TDN Rising Star' in the...

Mischevious Alex (Into Mischief) handled the added distance of Saturday's one-turn mile Gotham with aplomb, running away to his third straight impressive victory. He broke sharply and raced three deep to vy for command as they stacked up four across the track through a :23.54 opening quarter. The bay made his move to gain a narrow advantage approaching the far turn, was sat down by Kendrick Carmouche nearing the quarter pole and responded nicely from there, driving clear in the stretch to deliver as the favorite. Mischevious Alex entered the...

The highly regarded Gamine (f, 3, Into Mischief-Peggy Jane, by Kafwain) lived up to the hype in her much-anticipated unveiling for Hall of Famer Bob Baffert at Santa Anita Saturday, easily good enough for 'TDN Rising Star' honors. Gamine breezed four furlongs in :46 2/5 (3/43) at Santa Anita Mar. 2 (XBTV Video), and was pounded into 1-9 favoritism for this debut run. She broke like a shot over her three overmatched rivals, led through fractions of :22.42 and :46.17, cornered for home in complete command, and was never seriously...

LNJ Foxwoods's Covfefe (Into Mischief--Antics, by Unbridled), who last month was named champion 3-year-old filly and champion female sprinter at the Eclipse Awards, has been retired from racing and will be bred to boom sire Constitution for the upcoming breeding season. She will reside at Gainesway Farm. Bred in Kentucky by Alexander-Groves Thoroughbreds, Covfefe was a $250,000 purchase out of the 2017 Keeneland September yearling sale by Alex Solis II and Jason Litt of Solis/Litt Bloodstock on behalf of Larry, Nanci and Jaime Roth of LNJ Foxwoods. Turned over to...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 5th-GP, $50K, Msw, 3yo, f, 1 1/8mT, 2:34 p.m. ET The well-bred Follow the Flag (Tapit) makes her debut here for Skara Glen Stables and trainer Michael Matz. The $675,000 KEENOV weanling is out of Grade I winner Mushka (Empire), herself a $1.6-million FTSAUG yearling; $2.4-million KEENOV '08 seller; and $650,000 KEENOV '16 graduate while carrying Follow the Flag. Mushka is a granddaughter of MGISW Lakeway (Seattle Slew). Follow the Flag shows an ubeat series of drills, mostly of late over the Palm Meadows sod--click...

Last term's GII Saratoga Special S. winner and GI Champagne S. runner-up Green Light Go and the runaway debut winner Untitled (Khozan) took all the money here, but it was Mischevious Alex (Into Mischief) who ran more like an odds-on favorite. Swiftly into stride from the inside post, the last-out runaway winner of the Parx Juvenile S. held inside position at the fence as the two market leaders lingered behind. Both Green Light Go and Untitled were up and down approaching the stretch, but Mischevious Alex, who turned for home...

Nowadays, after Audible (Into Mischief) has retired and is ready to begin stud duties at WinStar Farm, WinStar General Manager David Hanley can say with confidence that the 2018 GI Florida Derby winner was a "tremendous horse." It just took everyone a while to figure that out. It seems that Audible didn't actually present as an overnight sensation. After being purchased for $500,000 at the 2017 Fasig-Tipton Florida Select 2-Year-Olds in Training, the New York-bred wasn't exactly blowing away his owners or trainer Todd Pletcher. "He was always a very...

The Week in Review, by T.D. Thornton Although the long-term implication of breeding trends on the soundness of racehorses was not an aspect that got covered in the post-mortem report released last week on Mongolian Groom (Hightail)'s fatal injury in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic, the author of that analysis, Dr. Larry Bramlage, did address the topic in a Jan. 16 media teleconference that followed up on the study he was commissioned to write for the Breeders' Cup. And while the breeding-related remarks by the internationally respected equine orthopedic surgeon...

4th-Gulfstream, $43,000, Msw, 1-12, 3yo, f, 6f, 1:10.99, ft. MOTIVATED SELLER (f, 3, Into Mischief--Coup {SW, $132,637}, by Empire Maker) survived a breakneck duel and found more in the lane to graduate impressively on debut for Klaravich Stables and Chad Brown Sunday at Gulfstream. Recording eight half-mile breezes at Payson Park, highlighted by a spin from the gate in :49 4/5 (8/55) Dec. 31, the $160,000 Fasig-Tipton October buy took late money to go off as the 12-5 second choice and broke alertly from her rail draw. Hooking up with...

The Week in Review, by T.D. Thornton So which 3-year-old ran the more impressive GI Kentucky Derby prep race last week? You're forgiven if you want to grade two of the three stakes as "incomplete" because they more or less equated to public workouts won by heavy favorites who had short fields at their mercy. But there were enough nuggets of intrigue to spark decent debate, even at this early stage of the season. Authentic Goes Green The 7 3/4-length beatdown administered by Authentic (Into Mischief) in Saturday's GIII Sham...

A $350,000 Keeneland September yearling, Authentic (Into Mischief) is the latest to make the races from his dam, the Mr. Greeley mare Flawless. The May foal was anything but that in Saturday's GIII Sham S. at Santa Anita, but raw ability saw him run up the score to the tune of 7 3/4 very green-but-good lengths as the 6-5 favorite. His well-backed stablemate Azul Coast (Super Saver) finished best of the rest in the one-mile test, which offered points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby on a 10-4-2-1 scale....

Yes, the French have a word--or a couple of expressions--for it and Hollywood has gotten into the act. And while these days there are fewer of us who know the precise definition of plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose ("the more things change, the more they remain the same") or even of deja vu ("a feeling of having experienced the present situation"), it seems everyone knows that when Groundhog Day is brought up, more people think of Bill Murray's 1993 "same stuff, different day" movie. That realization smacked...