Into Mischief's Profile as Broodmare Sire Gets Boost

In 2023, Into Mischief was crowned as Leading Sire in North America for the fifth straight year. No stallion had earned five consecutive titles since Bold Ruler won seven in a row from 1963-69, and he added another in 1973. Even if we go all the way back to Lexington, whose 16th and final title came in 1878, Star Shoot, Bull Lea, and Bold Ruler’s sire, Nasrullah, are the only other horses to have headed the list as many as five times. Whenever a stallion is so dominant, it’s natural that there will be a lot of interest in his potential long-term influence, and in the case of Into Mischief, it’s very early to try to make a prediction. On the sire of sires side, his first son to stud, Goldencents, started at a relatively inexpensive fee and has proved a solid sire, his 26 black-type winners including grade 1 scorer Going to Vegas and millionaires By My Standards and Mr. Money; Practical Joke has 18 stakes winners, eight graded, including grade 1 winners Practical Move and Chocolate Gelato in his first three Northern Hemisphere crops, and is a dominant sire in Chile with his Southern Hemisphere crops; and Maximus Mischief and Audible finished second and sixth, respectively, on the 2023 Freshman Sires list, both with multiple stakes winners. Into Mischief’s best two sons to date, Authentic and Life Is Good, are both yet to have runners, with Authentic’s first crop being 2-year-olds of 2024. Life Is Good’s first crop is arriving this year, as are the first foals for Into Mischief’s second Kentucky Derby-winning son, Mandaloun. On the broodmare sire front, it’s going to take a little while to make a fair assessment. Into Mischief began his stud career at a very modest fee, and consequently his first daughters would tend not to have the strongest of pedigrees, and would tend not to have visited the strongest of sires. Still, Into Mischief has two factors that augur well for success as a broodmare sire—he is a good filly sire, and is out of an exceptional producing mare—and he’s made a very promising start in that role. Looking at the first five graded scorers out of Into Mischief mares, three, White Abarrio (by Race Day), Cilla (by California Chrome), and Alva Starr (by Lord Nelson), are the best runners for their sire, and in the case of White Abarrio and Alva Starr, the only graded winners for their sire. Into Mischief’s latest stakes winner as a broodmare sire is Track Phantom, who moved to joint-leadership on the Kentucky Derby qualifying points list with a smooth victory in the Lecomte Stakes (G3). That was the third straight win, all around two turns, for Track Phantom, who after a pair of promising runs in one-mile maiden special weight events captured a Churchill Downs maiden special weight and then the Gun Runner Stakes over the same track and distance as the Lecomte. Track Phantom is by another of the current era’s leading sires, Quality Road. An oft-brilliant son of Elusive Quality, Quality Road won the Woodward Stakes (G1), Florida Derby (G1), Metropolitan Handicap (G1), and Donn Handicap (G1), and he set track records at 6 1/2 and nine furlongs. Quality Road is a proven classic sire with Abel Tasman taking the Kentucky Oaks (G1) and National Treasure emerging triumphant in last year’s Preakness Stakes (G1). Other stars among his 80 stakes winners include champion Corniche as well as Pegasus World Cup (G1) winner City of Light. Track Phantom’s dam, Miss Sunset, is among Into Mischief’s more accomplished daughters. Tough and versatile, she won 10 of 20 starts from 5 1/2 furlongs to a mile and on dirt and turf. Nine of those triumphs came in black-type events. Five came against her fellow California breds, and two others in restricted events, but she also proved her merit in open company, defeating Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) runner-up Chalon in the Raven Run Stakes (G2), and also taking the Sweet Life Stakes and China Doll Stakes on turf. Miss Sunset also came close to adding grade 1 laurels to her record, missing by just a nose to Finley’sluckycharm in the Madison Stakes (G1). Miss Sunset’s dam, Tuscan Sunset, was a three-time winner by Trippi. She was half sister to Sizzlin South, a three-time stakes winner in Louisiana, and to Sparkling Belle, a stakes winner who produced two other stakes winners, including the durable Prayer For Belief, who earned over $2,000,000, his victories including the West Virginia Derby (G2) and Super Derby (G2). The third dam of Miss Sunset, Intrinsic Dancer, is half sister to Another Reef, successful in the 1985 Vosburgh Stakes (G1). Intrinsic Dancer is a granddaughter of the noted mare Slippy, ancestress of more than 40 stakes winners, including grade 1 winner Mitterand and grade 2 winners Fortunate Isle, Carpenter’s Rule, French Deputy, Old Fashioned, and Following Sea. The female line goes back to one of the most famous of all North American foundation mares, Maggie B.B., dam of the 1879 Preakness Stakes scorer, Harold; Iroquois, who in 1878 earned the distinction of being first American-bred winner of the Epsom Derby; and Panique, victorious in the 1884 Belmont Stakes. A $500,000 Keeneland September Yearling, Track Phantom is one of only three starters for the sire out of mares by Into Mischief, and rates an A++ on TrueNicks. This is a broad version of the cross with Storm Cat line mares that has produced 14 of Quality Road’s stakes winners, eight of them graded.