Into Mischief maintains Dirt dominance and Monomy Girl (pic) rules supreme

INTO MISCHIEF was represented by another spectacular three-year-old in Gamine, who stormed home 6l clear in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (G1).

Like Authentic, she scored in a track-record time on what was admittedly an exceptionally fast Dirt surface. She was recording her third Grade 1 victory in four stakes starts, her sole defeat in black-type company coming when third in the Kentucky Oaks (G1) – the nine furlongs there beyond her compass.

Gamine is the third foal of her dam Peggy Jane. A New York-bred, Peggy Jane did show above-average ability in that programme winning in state-bred maiden special weight and allowance company, and finishing second in the Windswept Wings Stakes. Peggy Jane was a daughter of the Blushing Groom line horse Kafwain, who stood for just $10,000 in 2008 the year she was conceived. She was the first foal out of Seattle Splash, a mare claimed as a broodmare prospect for $22,500.

A daughter of Chief Seattle, Seattle Splash was half-sister to Splasha, a multiple stakes winner and graded stakes performer, also dam of the stakes winner Grand Cash and to Canadian black-type winner Murani.

The pedigree subsequently received a notable upgrade when Murani produced Dynamic Sky, a 2015 champion Turf horse in Canada.

Grand Splash, the dam of Seattle Splash, won four black-type events from 7f to a mile, all at Calder.

Grand Splash’s own second dam Little Flota was out of Gaslight. She was a halfsister to the top-class Sailor, a versatile six-time stakes winner who was just below the best of a crop headed by Nashua and Swaps. He later sired the Eclipse Award champions Bowl Of Flowers and Ahoy.

Flota, the dam of Gaslight and Sailor, is sister to High Fleet, who took the Coaching Club Oaks in 1936, and was champion threeyear-old filly that year.

Whitmore strikes for the older generation

The open version of the Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1), run over 6f, went to veteran Whitmore, a seven-year-old gelding making his 38th start and his fourth in this event.

Whitmore doesn’t have a pedigree immediately associated with a short-course specialist, and earlier in his career placed in a trio of Kentucky Derby trials before finishing a weary 19th in the race itself.

He is by Pleasantly Perfect, who numbered the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) and Dubai World Cup (G1) amongst his successes.

Whitmore is the only stakes winner under his first four dams, but his dam Melody’s Spirit does have a rather intriguing pedigree as she is by Scat Daddy. His sire Johannesburg is by a son of Storm Cat out of a mare by Yarn. Melody’s Spirit’s dam is by Tale Of The Cat, who is by Storm Cat out of Yarn.

The first previous black-type in the family comes under the fifth dam French Flag, who produced a trio of stakes-winning siblings by Raja Baba, including Drapeau, who is dam of Hollywood Futurity (G1) winner Swiss Yodeler and sire of a string of speedy performers when standing in California.

Monomoy Girl: simply the best

The Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) saw the wonderful five-year-old mare Monomoy Girl complete a perfect season with victory over her determined pursuer Valiance. It is an effort that will secure her an Eclipse Award as champion older mare to go with the award she earned as champion three-year-old filly.

The year marked a remarkable return for Monomoy Girl, who due to injury and illness, was out of action after her first Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) victory in 2018 until this May.

Monomoy Girl’s record now places her among history’s great racemares.

She has been first home in 14 of 15 starts, 11 consecutively, ten in graded stakes, and eight of them in Grade 1 events. She suffered her one genuine defeat at two when beaten a neck in the Golden Rod Stakes (G2).

Her only other loss came in the Cotillion Stakes (G1) where she beat Midnight Bisou, but a loss of concentration saw her chart an erratic course and she was demoted.

A day after her Breeders’ Cup victory, Monomoy Girl was sold at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale for $9,500,00 – a world record for a racing/broodmare prospect. She was purchased by Spendthrift Farm, who plan to keep her in training for 2021.

Monomoy Girl is from the second crop of Tapizar. A son of three-time leading sire Tapit, Tapizar won the Sham Stakes (G3) at three, but really came into his own at four when he took the West Virginia Governor’s Stakes, San Fernando Stakes (G2) and Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1).

He has sired 11 stakes winners, six graded with Monomoy Girl his sole Grade 1 scorer.

Monomoy Girl is out of the Henny Hughes (Hennessy) mare Drumette, also dam of this year’s Risen Star Stakes (G2) hero Mr. Monomoy.

Drumette is a half-sister to the Knickerbocker Handicap (G3) scorer Drum Major and is out of Endless Parade (by the Seattle Slew horse, Williamstown), a winner of three minor stakes events.

The fourth dam My Lady Love is a stakesplaced half-sister to the champion two-yearold filly Heavenly Cause, and is out of the Adirondack Stakes winner Lady Dulcinea. She is an outstanding tap-root mare, an ancestress of nearly 50 stakes winners, including three-time Grade 1 winner Bounding Basque, and By The Moon, successful in the Frizette Stakes (G1) and Ballerina Stakes (G1).

Knicks Go: proves his class in record time

When Knicks Go won the 2018 Breeders’ Futurity (G1), following up with a second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) to the champion two-year-old Game Winner, he appeared to be a potential factor on the Triple Crown trail for the following year.

He then, however, suffered ten straight defeats until this February when he took an Oaklawn Park allowance. That proved to be his only start until he re-emerged in October to take another allowance event.

Off that effort, Knicks Go started favourite for the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1), and duly delivered setting a new track-record.

Knicks Go’s sire Paynter, a son of Awesome Again out of a sister to Tiznow, won the Haskell Invitational Stakes (G1) and was only narrowly defeated by Union Rags in the Belmont Stakes (G1).

He has sired 16 stakes winners in his first four crops, with Knicks Go, a member of his second crop, being only one of his four Graded scorers to win at the highest level.

The dam of Knicks Go is the speedy Kosmo’s Buddy. A daughter of the well-bred Danzig horse Outflanker, Kosmo’s Buddy owned black-type form on Dirt and Turf, at two, three and four years of age, and over 5f to a mile. Successful in the Maryland Million Turf Sprint and the Crank it Up Stakes, she also earned places in 12 other stakes events.

By the beautifully-bred Danzig son Outflanker, Kosmo’s Buddy is out of the multiple stakes-placed Vaulted.

In turn, Vaulted is a half-sister to My Sweet Caroline, the dam of Sweet Cassiopeia, a four-time stakes winner of over $650,000, and Grade 2 placed.

Kosmo’s Buddy’s second dam Aube D’Or was also a stakes winner, and was a half-sister to Countus In, successful in the Matriarch Stakes (G1), and dam of graded winner Think Red and grand-dam of Ransom The Moon, winner of back-to-back renewals of the Bing Crosby Stakes (G1).

Essential: a Quality son of Tapit

Jackie’s Warrior was sent off the odds-on favourite for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1), but the eight and a half furlongs proved a bridge too far and he faded to fourth as Essential Quality came from off the pace for a three-quarters length victory.

Essential Quality was winning for the third time in three runs, and had taken the Breeders’ Futurity (G1) on his previous start. Essential Quality is a son of the threetime leading sire Tapit, sire of the previous champion two-year-old colt Hansen, as well as the Eclipse Award-winning champion fillies Untapable, Stardom Bound and Unique Bella.

He’s the first winner for his dam, the graded-placed Elusive Quality daughter Delightful Colony. She is a half-sister to the champion two-year-old filly Folklore, herself the grand-dam of Contrail. He was a champion two-year-old colt in Japan last year and winner of the Japanese Triple Crown this term.

Essential Quality’s second dam Contrive is by Storm Cat out of Fappiano’s daughter Jeano, a winner of five stakes events.

Contrive’s dam Jeano descends from the same branch of the La Troienne family, coming down through Striking and her daughter Bases Full, that produced the Kentucky Derby (G1) and Preakness Stakes (G1) winner Smarty Jones, who like Delightful Quality, was by Elusive Quality.

Nyquist rules wth first-crop

In the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1), Vequist reversed the finishing order of the Frizette Stakes (G1) with the Into Mischief filly Dayoutoftheoffice.

Vequist had previously broken her maiden by winning the Spinaway Stakes (G1) by over 9l on just her second outing.

Vequist is from the first crop of Nyquist, by Uncle Mo, whose sons Outwork and Laoban also have first-crop two-year-old stakes winners in 2020.

Nyquist was a brilliant juvenile going fivefor-five with four graded stakes victories, including the Del Mar Futurity (G1), the FrontRunner Stakes (G1) and a win in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1).

Nyquist won his first three starts at three, victories that included the Kentucky Derby and he emulated Street Sense as the second horse to complete the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile/Kentucky Derby double.

In addition to Vequist, Nyquist has an earlier first-crop Grade 1 winner – Gretzky The Great, who won the Summer Stakes (G1).

Vequist is out of the Mineshaft mare Vero Amore, whose most notable effort came when beaten a neck by Stopchargingmaria in the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes (G2).

The fifth dam Minstress (The Minstrel) was a black-type winner and Graded stakes placed, and bred an English Group winner in the Red Ransom filly, Cassis.

Minstress is also second dam of the Storm Song, the champion two-year-old filly of 1996 and second dam of Order Of St George.

Storm Song was by Summer Squall, also sire of Vequist’s third dam Miss Summer Reign, making the Storm Song and Miss Summer Reign three-quarters sisters.

Minstress was out of the staying Turf mare Fleet Victress, successful in the Sheepshead Bay Stakes (G2) and New York Handicap (G3) and later ancestress of champion Japanese Dirt horse, Copano Rickey.

The family goes back to Anchors Ahead, a sister to one of Man O’ War’s most important sons, War Relic.

Vequist: the first-crop Grade 1 winner for Nyquist