Into Mischief picked up his sixth Grade 1 winner on July 18 with Authentic's victory in the Grade 1 Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park. Two days earlier, the bay son of the deceased sire Harlan's Holiday (by the Storm Cat stallion Harlan) had the one-two in the G3 Schuylerville Stakes at Saratoga when Dayoutoftheoffice won by six lengths from Make Mischief, who was a length ahead of second-choice Hopeful Princess (Not This Time). The fourth horse was 10 lengths farther back, and the odds-on favorite, Beautiful Memories (Hard Spun), stumbled at the start, was pulled up after a half-mile, then walked off.
In contrast to the victory of heavily favored Authentic, Dayoutoftheoffice and Make Mischief were two of the four longest shots in the field of seven, and the winner was 19.8-to-1.
Quick, precocious, and willing racers, Dayoutoftheoffice and Make Mischief are typical of the progeny of leading sire Into Mischief, who has stood his entire stud career at Spendthrift Farm for owner B. Wayne Hughes, and the stallion has risen from the modest heights of an entering stud fee of $12,500 to a position in the hierarchy of stallions where his fee for 2020 was $175,000 live foal, and for 2021, it would not be surprising to see a further increase.
The quantity and quality of his offspring are responsible for that steady upward progression in stud fee.
As evidence of that, Into Mischief was the leading sire of 2019 by progeny earnings, with $18.9 million, and he ranks second in 2020. In addition, Into Mischief is a promising sire of stallions, with such well-regarded young horses as Audible (G1 Florida Derby), who entered stud at WinStar in 2020, and Practical Joke (G1 Champagne, Hopeful, Allen Jerkens), who entered stud at Ashford in 2018 and has first-crop yearlings this year.
When he goes to stud, Authentic will go to Spendthrift to stand alongside Into Mischief, like the stallion's other sons Goldencents (sire of seven stakes winners and the earners of more than $10 million) and Maximus Mischief, who entered stud in 2020.
Spendthrift's Mark Toothaker said, “We're so lucky to have Into Mischief, because he's a generational sort of sire, and we'd love to stand all his sons, too. We already have a couple, and we're thrilled to have Authentic coming to Spendthrift. He's a taller, stretchier sort of Into Mischief, and we're seeing more of that type as breeders are coming to breed more mares to him with size and scope.”
Before Authentic goes on to a second career, however, trainer Bob Baffert will point the long-legged bay for the Kentucky Derby, and “hopefully Authentic runs on next year at four; that's the deal with him now,” Toothaker said, “and that was part of the plan for bringing in MyRacehorse.com as part of the ownership of the horse.”
Purchased at the 2018 Keeneland September sale by SF Bloodstock and Starlight West, Authentic started his career so impressively that Madaket Stables LLC, Spendthrift Farms LLC, and MyRaceHorse Stable subsequently have bought into the horse.
The first four entities are well-known for involvement in high-profile racing stock, but MyRaceHorse Stable is a different proposition. Toothaker noted that when “we met Michael Behrens, who owned MyRacehorse.com at the time, we loved it so much that Spendthrift bought a significant interest in the company,” and now Spendthrift is putting MyRaceHorse Stable in partnerships with some of its high-class racers.
Brian Lyle, who is the liaison for Spendthrift with MyRaceHorse Stable, said that “Mr. Hughes is concerned with the number of people involved in racing and wants to help attract more people to the sport. Our concept of MyRaceHorse Stable is purely to get more fans to the racetrack. It brings in more owners, it builds greater enthusiasm, and it builds up education so that some owners can move to the next level with their involvement in the sport.”
In Toothaker's analogy of the approach, he said, “It's a sort of farm league or development league to allow people to have individual involvement in the game through the purchase of micro-shares, and Mr. Hughes believes it could save the game. Normally, we are looking at young horses where Spendthrift would buy breeding rights, but now with MyRacehorse, we are also looking to buy racing rights.”
As testament to the widespread appeal that this could have with the general public, Toothaker recounted that the assistant pastor at the church where Toothaker and his family attend came up to him on Sunday to let him know that the clergyman had bought a share in Authentic.
Maybe those prayers made a difference in the stretch run of the Haskell. Either way, involvement of people not otherwise experienced in Thoroughbred ownership is a boon for the sport, and Authentic may prove an important educational and promotional marker for the popularity of the sport with this success and with anything else he accomplishes in the future.
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