Six-time reigning leading sire Into Mischief’s continued success is one of the stories of the summer in Saratoga – not just on the track, as his dual classic winner Sovereignty eyes the meet’s major events for 3-year-olds, but in the commercial arena.
In addition to having several coveted lots at Fasig-Tipton’s sales in August down the block from the racetrack, Into Mischief will be well-represented by his proven sons. He also is the sire of three first-crop stallions, including the well-regarded Life Is Good, a multiple Grade 1 winner at Saratoga.
Into Mischief, who stands at Spendthrift Farm, is well on his way to a seventh consecutive North American general sire earnings title, which would make him the first stallion to achieve such a streak since Bold Ruler more than a half-century ago. As of July 22, Into Mischief’s 353 runners this year have earnings of $17,925,608, giving him a wide lead over Candy Ride, whose 147 runners, including Dubai World Cup winner Hit Show, have banked $10,758,794. Candy Ride’s son Gun Runner is next, with $9,808,369 from 214 starters.
With his successes this season, Into Mischief has edged past fellow active Kentucky sire Tapit as North America’s all-time richest sire. Through July 22, Into Mischief, who is 20 years old and entered stud in 2009, has progeny earnings of $220,337,362 from 1,511 career starters. Gainesway’s Tapit, who is 24 years old and entered stud in 2005, has $220,174,157, from 1,491 starters.
Into Mischief’s top earner this season is Sovereignty, who has won the Kentucky Derby, and Belmont and Jim Dandy stakes at Saratoga. Sovereignty was the record third Derby winner for his sire, joining 2020 winner Authentic and 2021 official victor Mandaloun.
As further proof of the stallion’s talents, Sovereignty’s Belmont victory came on a huge day for his sire. Not only did Sovereignty score a second classic victory at 10 furlongs, Into Mischief demonstrated his versatility as Patch Adams won the Grade 1 Woody Stephens at seven furlongs on the undercard, becoming the stallion’s 25th individual Grade 1 winner.
On the same day, Raging Torrent, by Into Mischief’s son Maximus Mischief, won the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap.
“I thought [his two wins], and then to also have a grandson win the Met Mile, I thought that day was a pretty good microcosm of his career,” Spendthrift general manager Ned Toffey said.
Into Mischief’s own results would be enough to secure him a spot in the history books, but he also is building a legacy with his sons at stud. Goldencents (Spendthrift), from his first crop, is the sire of three Grade 1 winners, led by 2024 Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan. Practical Joke (Ashford Stud) is in the top 10 general sires nationally and is the sire of 11 Grade/Group 1 winners between the United States and Chile, where he shuttles. In the United States, Practical Joke’s Grade 1 winners are Chocolate Gelato, Domestic Product, Practical Move, and Ways and Means.
Audible (WinStar Farm) and Authentic (Spendthrift) have both sired graded stakes winners, as has Maximus Mischief (Spendthrift), who stepped up with his first Grade 1 winner in Raging Torrent.
“I think he got off to a great start, and he’s still very early,” Toffey said of Maximus Mischief. “He came in at a lower price point – to be already getting winners of elite races shows what kind of stallion he is. . . . Into Mischief, he’s obviously got Maximus Mischief, Goldencents, who’s obviously proven to be a very useful horse . . . I think he’s very clearly ticked the box for being a sire of sires.”
Into Mischief has 11 lots cataloged at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga selected yearling sale on Aug. 4-5, all with stellar pedigrees. Five of the dams of his yearlings are graded stakes winners, including Grade 1 winners I’m a Chatterbox and It Tiz Well. Overlapping with that group in some places, four of the mares have produced stakes winners, led by Grade 2 winner Mopotism, dam of Preakness Stakes winner Journalism.
Into Mischief’s sons Authentic, Life Is Good (WinStar Farm), Mandaloun (Juddmonte), and Practical Joke also are represented in the select sale catalog. In the Fasig-Tipton New York-bred sale on Aug. 10-11, Audible, Authentic, Highly Motivated (Airdrie Stud), Honest Mischief (Sequel Stallions), Instagrand (Taylor Made), Life Is Good, Mandaloun, Maximus Mischief, and Practical Joke are represented.
Honest Mischief is continuing his sire’s reputation as a standout in his adopted home state of New York. He finished among the nation’s top 10 freshman sires last year, the only stallion on that list outside of Kentucky. He is currently a top-three New York general sire.
Grade 2 winner Highly Motivated, multiple Grade 1 winner Life Is Good, and classic performer Mandaloun are Into Mischief’s first-crop sire class.
“They have every opportunity to be any kind of a sire,” Toffey said. “We’re hearing great things.”
Life Is Good won 9 of 12 career starts, earning more then $4.5 million. He took the 2021 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Del Mar and the following year added Grade 1 scores in the Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park and the Whitney and Woodward, both at Saratoga.
He earned triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures in all but one of his U.S. starts – that being a 97 in the Woodward. His career-bests were a 112 winning the Grade 2 John A. Nerud, and a 110 in the Pegasus World Cup.
Life Is Good entered stud at WinStar for an advertised fee of $100,000 – second in his class only to unbeaten champion Flightline. The stallion’s eight weanlings sold at public auction last year averaged $325,625. His first yearling offerings at Saratoga include a filly out of stakes-placed Smart Shopping, dam of 2024 Preakness winner Seize the Grey.
“She’s a lovely filly, very leggy,” said Price Bell Jr. of Mill Ridge, which consigned the filly. “We have two Life Is Goods on the farm – they’re both very nice.”
Multimillionaire Mandaloun won five stakes, including, improbably, Grade 1 triumphs by disqualification in both the Kentucky Derby and Haskell. His first-crop offerings in Saratoga include a half-sibling to last year’s champion juvenile Citizen Bull, who is by Into Mischief.
Highly Motivated, a stakes winner at 2, was multiple graded stakes-placed at 3 and beaten a neck by dual champion Essential Quality in the Blue Grass, then a Grade 2. As an older horse, he won the Grade 3 Monmouth Cup. He has seen his family rise around him since his retirement to Airdrie as he is a half-brother to Grade 1 winners Surge Capacity and Ways and Means.
“This is not comparing Highly Motivated to Into Mischief at this stage, but the way that the pedigree has come up around him since his retirement to stud is very much the same way Leslie’s Lady added to the page in the years after Into Mischief was retired,” Airdrie’s Bret Jones said.
Broodmare of the Year Leslie’s Lady produced not only Grade 1 winner Into Mischief, but later Hall of Famer Beholder and Grade 1 winner and sire Mendelssohn.
“It’s just a completely different pedigree than the one that we bought into when we first bought the horse,” Jones continued of Highly Motivated. “The mare [Strong Incentive] has proven that she’s not only great but elite.”