Honest Mischief | Horse Racing Free Tips

More Favorable Conditions Lead To Faster OBS Saturday

Weather conditions continued to improve on the penultimate day of the 2024 Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training under-tack show and, while works failed to reach the peak set earlier in the week, the headwind that hampered Friday's show let up in time for a plethora of runners to hit the :9 4/5 mark Saturday. A total of 11 juveniles matched that mark with five of those 11 coming from sires who have their first 2-year-olds this year.

Craig Wheeler sent out his homebred son of Vekoma (hip 1006), a colt with whom his experience in the family dates back to his time as manager with Hobeau Farm.

“It always means a little more when you've had them since they were born,” said Wheeler. “It's a family that I've had a lot of success with. We bred the good ones, like [Grade I-winner] Miss Shop and so it's a super family and it doesn't surprise us that another hopeful superstar will come out of it.”

Second dam Shopping, owned by Hobeau Farm of which Wheeler managed for over 30 years, not only produced millionaire Miss Shop (Deputy Minister) but also GSW/MGISP Trappe Shot (Tapit), SW/GSP Bought In Dixie (Dixieland Band) and Shop Again (Wild Again), who would in turn produce GISW Power Broker (Pulpit). Wheeler noted that his colt's sharp work Saturday was completely par for the course.

“We were expecting it, for sure. He's been training lights out for us and we're tickled. He's so straightforward and light on his feet, and he galloped out good as well.”

With first-season sires continuing to be in demand, Vekoma was an obvious choice for Wheeler to pair with his homebred mare Blakely's Smile.

“He [Vekoma] was always on our radar,” continued Wheeler. “Watching him and all of his great races–he showed a ton of talent.”

And while the wind let up enough for a pack of horses to hit :9 4/5, conditions weren't quite as favorable as they were earlier in the week before Thursday's storms. Wheeler noted that while there were plenty of fast horses Saturday morning, it wasn't quite as good as Wednesday's tail wind. His other juvenile, a colt by Khozan named Micanopy (hip 722), was one caught breezing into the wind Friday.

“He still galloped out nice but we knew it wouldn't be blistering fast. He's getting plenty of looks [Friday] and I think it's because of how he was moving over the track. That attracts the lookers.”

Micanopy, bred by Brent & Crystal Fernung, was a $30,000 purchase by Wheeler at the OBS Yearling Sale last fall and, while the breeze may not have gone to plan Friday, Wheeler remembers what drew him to the colt in the first place.

“His walk. He has a tremendous walk with a huge overstep. I got him from my friend Brent who does a great job raising horses and so I was really confident in buying from him. And he's been training great so we're hoping to get lucky there too.”

10 other juveniles matched the :9 4/5 time including three by first-crop sire Honest Mischief (hip 870, hip 938 and hip 1011) along with a filly from the first crop by Tiz the Law (hip 928). Speightster (hip 871), Nyquist (hip 902 and hip 915), Mitole (hip 907), Twirling Candy (hip 1005) and Midnight Lute (hip 981) were also represented by Saturday's bullet.

Three hips matched the fastest quarter-mile work Saturday at :20 3/5 including a pair by Ocala Stud's Win Win Win (hip 881 and hip 1025) and a third by Frosted (hip 926).

Optimism continues to abound looking forward to next week's auction.

“This is the sale that everybody shows up for,” continued Wheeler. “There's something for everybody–top end, middle and the bottom. There's a lot of nice horses going back and forth to the track so I think that will draw people in. I'm expecting to it to be good.”

The under-tack show will conclude with a makeup session Sunday. The OBS Spring sale will be held Tuesday through Friday with bidding starting each day at 10:30 a.m.

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Sequel New York’s Mullion Has First Mares In Foal

'TDN Rising Star' and new stallion Mullion (Into Mischief), standing at Sequel New York in partnership with Juddmonte, reported his first mares in foal Friday according to a release by the farm. The full-brother to fellow 'Rising Star', GI Kentucky Derby winner and Juddmonte stallion Mandaloun has a pair of mares, Stillness (Constitution) and Rockin Emmzy (Tale of the Cat), confirmed in foal. Mullion stands at Sequel New York alongside Honest Mischief (Into Mischief), Keepmeinmind (Laoban), Fire At Will (Declaration of War), Freud (Storm Cat) and Mission Impazible (Unbridled's Song).

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Record Good Magic Colt on Top at Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale

A colt by Good Magic (hip 251) brought a sales record $230,000 to top a solid–if polarized–renewal of the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Fall Mixed Sale in upstate New York Tuesday. During the one-session auction, 156 horses grossed $4,522,200 for an average of $28,988 and a median of $18,000. Both average and median dipped from last year's vibrant market. The sale average–which had jumped 48.5% from 2021 to 2022–declined 13% from a year ago, while the median was down 5%.

From a catalogue of 337 head, 243 went through the ring with 87 failing to meet their reserves for a buy-back rate of 35.8%. That was up from last year's figure of 25.3%.

“It was very similar to the last few yearling sales,” Derek MacKenzie, whose Vinery Sales consigned four of the auction's nine six-figure horses, including the sale-topping weanling, said of the market in Saratoga Tuesday. “It was very polarized. The ones that the buyers covet and that jump through the hoops bring a lot of money. We are lacking a little bit of depth, obviously. The middle and the bottom is trickier than it has been in the last few years.”

Hip 251 is out of Popstar (Medaglia d'Oro) and is a half-brother to stakes-placed Lady d'Oro (Catholic Boy). Vinery consigned the youngster on behalf of his breeder, Richard Nicolai's Fortune Farm.

“He was a very fantastic physical and he had great size,” said Vinery's Derek MacKenzie. “He was a great mover with incredible presence. I thought he would top the sale, honestly.”

Of the sales record price, MacKenzie said, “Once you pass the $200,000 mark at this sale, you just never know. Because that seems to be the ceiling in the past, but [the price] didn't shock me.”

The sale-topping price produced a quick profit for Nicolai, who purchased Popstar with the colt in utero for $29,000 at the Keeneland January sale earlier this year.

“I was not involved with purchasing the mare, but I congratulated [Nicolai] on what was an incredible purchase,” MacKenzie said.

On behalf of Juddmonte, Sequel New York offered three mares in foal to Honest Mischief and the trio were the only broodmares to bring six figures during the auction. Glen Hill Farm purchased the highest-priced of the lot, going to $170,000 to acquire the unraced 4-year-old Bahama Banks (Arrogate) (hip 25).

“We had a busy morning because we sold a horse in the Arqana October sale and he made a nice price,” said Glen Hill's Craig Bernick. “So I was kind of excited and I went a little more on that mare than I was planning to. But we wanted to have her.”

The mare is a half-sister to multiple graded placed Millefeuille (Curlin). Her second dam is Grade I winner Honest Lady (Seattle Slew), who produced Grade I winner First Defence (Unbridled's Song), as well as graded placed Honest Mischief.

“It's a world-class pedigree,” Bernick said. “We've never been able to get something that we thought was good from that Toussaud, Honest Lady family. When they've sold out of that family, those horses usually make a huge price. So we were really excited to buy her. She is in foal to a horse that's in New York, but it's a horse that goes back to the same family. So you'd have to hope for a filly to be inbred to that family. We will bring her to Kentucky and figure out what stallion to go to. She will go to a good stallion.”

Honest Mischief, who stands at Sequel New York for $6,500, was well-represented by his first crop at the Fasig-Tipton New York-Bred Yearling Sale in August with five six-figure yearlings. But the New York stallion's presence as a covering sire might have saved Bernick some money, he said.

“If she was in foal to a $50,000 Kentucky stallion, I think she would have made $400,000 or $500,000,” Bernick said. “So the stallion maybe did us a favor. We like to race horses, so Honest Mischief, I wouldn't go looking for one, but from that family, especially if it's a filly, I would be excited to race her.”

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Uncle Mo Filly Dominates In Laurel Unveiling

3rd-Laurel, $52,520, Msw, 7-1, 2yo, f, 5f, :58.39, ft, 8 lengths.
TOUPIE (f, 2, Uncle Mo–Amertume {GSP}, by Tapit) was a deserving even-money favorite in this unveiling, jumping up to strike the front from the early jumps to set the pace just outside of Remember Me (Imagining). The pair stayed in close quarters through fractions of :22.93 and :45.79 before Toupie eagerly shook off her shadow past the quarter pole and spurted clear, opening up a dominant advantage that was eight lengths on the wire. Remember Me held on for second. From the extended female family of third dam Honest Lady, herself a half-sister to late sire Empire Maker, Toupie traces back to GI Forego H. winner First Defense (Unbridled's Song) and SW/GSP Honest Mischief (Into Mischief). She is her dam's last reported foal. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $31,200. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.
O/B-Wertheimer Et Frere (KY); T-H. Graham Motion.

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