Breeding plans this year for two retired champions have been announced, with Malathaat, the Eclipse Award-winning 3-year-old filly of 2021, headed to Into Mischief and Letruska, the Eclipse Award-winning older dirt mare of that year, booked to Curlin .
Shadwell Stable's Malathaat is likely to secure a second Eclipse Award, with the 5-year-old Curlin mare widely expected to be honored as champion older dirt mare of 2022 in an Eclipse Award ceremony Jan. 26 in South Florida. Last year, the Todd Pletcher trainee went 4-for 6, capped by three consecutive victories in the Personal Ensign Stakes (G1), Spinster Stakes (G1), and Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1).
The latter race at Keeneland Nov. 5 was decided by inches, with Malathaat, under Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez, prevailing in a three-way photo over Blue Stripe and Clairiere.
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Malathaat was retired shortly after the Breeders' Cup Distaff and arrived at Shadwell Farm near Lexington Nov. 7. The racing and breeding operation of Shadwell is headed by Sheikha Hissa Hamdan Al Maktoum.
"We're excited. She's doing very well," said Jonny Smyth, co-farm manager of Shadwell Farm. "We spoke with Sheikha Hissa and did our mating plans, and decided on Into Mischief, which we felt was a great cross, maybe give her a bit of speed.
"Look, we're excited. She's a beautiful mare. We're fortunate to have her. We're really happy she's going (to Into Mischief). We'll look forward to her babies."
Smyth said Malathaat is enjoying her current downtime, often beside Shadwell's 2021 Mother Goose Stakes (G2) winner Zaajel on the farm.
A $1.05 million purchase from the Denali Stud consignment to the 2019 September Yearling Sale at Keeneland, Malathaat was bred by Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings and is out of the grade 1-winning A.P. Indy mare Dreaming of Julia, another Pletcher trainee.
Into Mischief is a four-time champion general sire who stands for an advertised fee of $250,000 at Spendthrift Farm in Central Kentucky.
With a mating to Curlin, per trainer Fausto Gutierrez, St. George Stables' homebred Letruska will visit last year's third-ranked general sire, who stands for an advertised $225,000 at Hill 'n' Dale Farms in Paris, Ky.
A champion in Mexico before coming to the U.S., she reached the top of the distaff division in 2021, taking the Apple Blossom Handicap (G1), Ogden Phipps Stakes (G1), Personal Ensign Stakes (G1), and Spinster Stakes (G1). The frontrunning mare's only defeats in eight starts that year were a slow-break second in the Azeri Stakes (G2) and a year-end 10th-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) after dueling through taxing early fractions.
She went on to repeat in the Apple Blossom in 2022 after a kick-off victory in the Royal Delta Stakes (G2) at Gulfstream Park. She then went winless in her final three starts of 2022 and her connections chose to skip running her in the Breeders' Cup. The 7-year-old Super Saver mare, out of the Successful Appeal mare Magic Appeal, left racing with a 19-1-2 record in 28 starts and earnings of $3,053,529.
In the midst of her peak U.S. form over a 20-month period from August 2020 to April 2022, she won 10 graded stakes races, five of them grade 1s.
"This is something I never dreamed was possible... We enjoyed how she ran for a long time," Gutierrez said. "Now she will be a different horse (as a broodmare) and I hope she can transmit this to future champions."
