breeders’ cup
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WENTY-TWENTY has been quite the year. In the US, in addition to a calamitous handling of the world-wide COVID-19 virus, 2020 has also been marked by more civil unrest than at any time since the Vietnam protests of the 1960s and 1970s, and closed out with a nail-biting presidential election followed by the loser refusing to concede. Within the microcosm of a microcosm that is North American racing, however, 2020 has been the year of Into Mischief, the 15-year-old sire, who has made the most spectacular rise through the stallion ranks since his great-grandsire Storm Cat, who retired to stud more than 30 years ago. Into Mischief’s career consisted of just six starts, three each at two and three, scoring in the CashCall Futurity (G1) at two, and in the Damascus Stakes at three. He also took second in the Malibu Stakes (G1), San Vicente Stakes (G2) and Hollywood Prevue Stakes (G3). By Harlan’s Holiday – also sire of champion two-year-old Shanghai Bobby – Into Mischief started at a very modest fee, and at one point was slated to cover at as little as $7,500. He was represented by just 140 foals in his first four crops, but his fifth crop, the first sired after his merit first became apparent, was much larger at 161. That generation saw Into Mischief earn the 2016 title as leading sire of two-yearolds, an achievement he repeated in 2018 and 2019, the latter year when he also took his first overall leading sires’ title. He looks likely to repeat in both categories this term – he has a lead of over $8,000,000 on the overall table – and he’s been represented by an astonishing 27 individual stakes winners in 2020, 11 of them graded. By 2016, Into Mischief’s fee had risen to $45,000, and it’s that crop that has taken
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The real deal Authentic backed up his Kentucky Derby victory in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. He has helped sire Into Mischief produce “the most spectacular rise through the stallion ranks since his great-grandsire Storm Cat.” Alan Porter reviews the Keeneland meeting, which also saw a clean sweep for European raiders in the Turf championships Photography courtesy of the Breeders’ Cup Authentic, the son of Into Mischief, was never headed in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. He has retired to Spendthrift Farm alongside his sire at a fee of $75,000
