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Baffert Unveils Another Into Mischief Monster

With likely Horse of the Year Authentic (Into Mischief) recently retired to stud, the Bob Baffert barn wasted no time unveiling its next speedy superstar by the nation’s leading sire as CHC Inc. and WinStar Farm LLC’s Life is Good (Into Mischief) demolished his competition to become a no-brainer ‘TDN Rising Star’. The bay prepped for this with a head-turning 1:00 flat (1-of-51) gate breeze last Saturday (XBTV Video), and drifted up to 1-5 at the off after spending much of the betting cycle at 1-9. Zipping off to lead them by open lengths through speedy splits of :21.80 and :44.84, he was always in complete control and streaked home 9 1/2 lengths clear in 1:15.50 while flashing similar brilliance to the same ownership group’s undefeated monster Nashville (Speightstown). Fellow firster Wipe the Slate (Nyquist) was second best.

The winner, who was a $525,000 KEESEP yearling, is bred on the same cross as MGISW and promising young sire Practical Joke (Into Mischief). His dam, herself a $435,000 September buy, never won in five tries but hit the board in maiden special weights in both Kentucky and Arkansas. She has a yearling filly by Blame and was bred back to Candy Ride (Arg).

Life Is Good’s second dam is SW and MGISP Bonnie Blue Flag (Mineshaft), who sold for $1.5 million in 2011 but just $15,000 last November in foal to California Chrome at the age of 12 after having little success with her produce on the track. Bonnie Blue Flag is a half to MGISW and group producer Diamondrella (GB) (Rock of Gibraltar {Ire}).

2nd-Del Mar, $57,000, Msw, 11-22, 2yo, 6 1/2f, 1:15.50, ft, 9 1/2 lengths.
LIFE IS GOOD, c, 2, Into Mischief
                1st Dam: Beach Walk, by Distorted Humor
                2nd Dam: Bonnie Blue Flag, by Mineshaft
                3rd Dam: Tap Your Feet, by Dixieland Band
Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $34,200. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton. Free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
O-CHC INC. & WinStar Farm LLC; B-Gary & Mary West Stables Inc. (KY); T-Bob Baffert. *$525,000 Ylg ’19 KEESEP.

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Sunday’s Insights: Keeneland April 2yo Topper Debuts at Churchill Downs

3rd-CD, $85K, Msw, 3yo/up, f/m, 1m, 2:00 p.m. ET
First-time starter MISS TAPIRADO (Tapit) topped the 2019 Keeneland April 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, bringing $1.3 million from Prince Sultan bin Mishal Al Saud after breezing in a co-bullet :10 flat. Consigned by Hartley/De Renzo Thoroughbreds, agent, she was previously a $775,000 KEENOV weanling purchase by Baccari Bloodstock. Grade I winner My Conquestadory (Artie Schiller) brought $1.5 million from SF Bloodstock & Newgate Farm while carrying Miss Tapirado at the Conquest Stables dispersal at the 2016 Keeneland November Sale. Miss Tapirado’s 4-year-old full-brother Bourbon War was second in the 2019 GII Xpressbet Fountain of Youth S. Miss Tapirado, drawn widest of all in post seven for this debut run, worked a bullet four furlongs in :47 4/5 (1/100) over the training track at Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott’s Belmont base back on Oct. 11. TJCIS PPs

7th-CD, $85K, Msw, 2yo, 6 1/2f, 4:06 p.m. ET
Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse unveils GHOSTLINER (Ghostzapper) in this full field of juveniles. John Oxley went to $475,000 to purchase the gray as a FTSAUG yearling. He was produced by a winning daughter of 2006 champion 3-year-old filly Wait a While (Maria’s Mon). Ghostliner’s worktab features several bullet moves, including a five-furlong drill in :59 1/5 (1/19) in Louisville Oct. 22.
The unlucky Sound Money (Flatter), favored at 2-1 on the morning line here, lost little in defeat rallying for second after a gate malfunction caused him to spot the field several lengths on debut for Chad Brown at Keeneland Oct. 11. TJCIS PPs

2nd-DMR, $57K, Msw, 2yo, 6 1/2f, 4:00 p.m. ET
LIFE IS GOOD (Into Mischief) looks like another live one for Hall of Famer Bob Baffert and his red-hot leading sire. The $525,000 KEESEP yearling, owned by CHC Inc and WinStar Farm LLC, tuned up for this with a five-furlong bullet from the gate in 1:00 (1/51) at Santa Anita Nov. 16 (XBTV Video). The 4-5 morning-line favorite’s second dam is former Baffert runner, SW & MGISP Bonnie Blue Flag (Mineshaft).
The field of six also includes fellow first-time starters: Scales of Justice (Uncle Mo), a son of MGISW Balance (Thunder Gulch); and $550,000 KEESEP yearling Roman Centurian (Empire Maker). TJCIS PPs

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Ned Toffey Talks Into Mischief, Authentic, Monomoy Girl and More On Writers’ Room

Business is booming at Spendthrift Farm. The once-defunct stallion station has enjoyed a remarkable resurgence in the past decade, thanks in large part to a superstar stallion, a deep-pocketed owner and the steady hand of an experienced general manager. Ned Toffey has seen it all since B. Wayne Hughes purchased Spendthrift in 2004, and he joined the TDN Writers’ Room presented by Keeneland Wednesday. Calling in via Zoom as the Green Group Guest of the Week, Toffey talked about the explosive growth of the farm, what makes Into Mischief special, likely Horse of the Year Authentic (Into Mischief), the future of recent Spendthrift purchases Monomoy Girl (Tapizar) and Got Stormy (Get Stormy) and much more.

“Once we did some renovations here at Spendthrift, we brought Malibu Moon over and really thought that was going to be our flagship horse. And all the while there was this little son of Harlan’s Holiday we bought for $180,000,” Toffey recalled when asked about Into Mischief. “The first couple of years he was here, he was a very tough sell. One of the programs that we did, ‘Share the Upside’, was actually designed to help sell seasons to Into Mischief. But it turned out to be the opposite. Into Mischief made the program. He gave us credibility and has given us the confidence to start to go after other top horses. He’s done so much. He drives traffic to the farm. We’ll be fortunate if we can ever have another one as good as him. People give us a lot of credit for having ‘made’ Into Mischief. We’re happy to take that credit, but I think the credit goes to Into Mischief.”

Spendthrift made major waves at last week’s Fasig-Tipton November ‘Night of the Stars’, shelling out $9.5 million for champion topper Monomoy Girl, $4.2 million for MGISW Bast (Uncle Mo) and $2.75 million for MGISW Got Stormy.

“We wanted to have some marquee mares to breed Into Mischief, Authentic and even some of the stallions that came in within the last year as well,” Toffey explained. “We generally will move our own mares out of the way if we have clients that really need to get their mares bred. So oftentimes some of the mares that we start out planning to breed to some of these stallions, end up getting bred to somebody else. This year we wanted to have some mares that we just felt were really strong. We may not breed a lot to Into Mischief. Mr. Hughes usually likes to collect the stud fee and make room for our clients. But now we’ve got a handful of mares that will certainly need to go to Into Mischief, Authentic and the likes of those.”

Asked about the reasoning for retiring Authentic as a 3-year-old while bringing Monomoy Girl and Got Stormy back to the racetrack in 2021 as 6-year-olds, Toffey offered, “You’re talking about a little different price point. We were wide open in terms of what we might do, but his racing career just went so well and Bob [Baffert] said, ‘He’s done so much. He’s done everything that he really can.’ And our primary business is breeding. That’s what drives things here and the stallion complex is the epicenter of Spendthrift. That is our primary focus and everything we do revolves around that. He’s such a sound, talented horse, it was very tempting to go on and run next year, but again, this is such a central part of what we do, we felt like it was time for him to come and start his career here.”

Elsewhere on the show, the writers debated which Eclipse categories are still to be decided, appreciated strong 2-year-old performances from the weekend and, in the West Point Thoroughbreds news segment, broke down the latest developments in the indictments surrounding Jason Servis and Jorge Navarro. Click here to watch the podcast; click here for the audio-only version.

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Into Mischief Mare Tops Keeneland November Sunday

Able to Smile (Into Mischief) (hip 2509), a 4-year-old broodmare prospect, topped Sunday’s seventh session of the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale when bringing a final bid of $135,000. I’ll Need a Little Luck was the name on the ticket for the gray filly, who was consigned by Indian Creek. Out of Grade I placed Teamgeist (Arg) (Mutakddim), Able to Smile is a half-sister to multiple graded stakes winner House Rules (Distorted Humor), as well as to multiple Grade I placed Win the Space (Pulpit). A $385,000 Keeneland September yearling, Able to Smile won once in seven starts on the racetrack.

“Able To Smile was a beautiful broodmare prospect, she was very popular showing and we were hopeful she would be one of the top offerings on the day,” said Indian Creek’s Sarah Sutherland. “She was a standout physically and on paper and would have held her own earlier in the sale as well. We are delighted with the sale.”

Able to Smile was one of two mares to bring six figures on the day. John Sikura’s Hill ‘n’ Dale at Xalapa purchased the 6-year-old mare Stormy’s Song (Unbridled’s Song) (hip 2450) for $125,000. She is out of Stormy Tak (Stormy Atlantic), a daughter of multiple Grade I winner Lady Tak (Mutakddim).

The Army Mule partnership purchased Stormy’s Song for $102,000 at the 2018 Keeneland November sale. She sold in foal to Army Mule and was followed into the sales ring Sunday by her weanling colt by that Hill ‘n’ Dale stallion, who was the session’s top-priced foal when selling for $80,000 to Castleton Stables. The weanling was bred by Elevage II and St Elias Stables and both mare and foal were consigned by Hill ‘n’ Dale Sales Agency.

A total of 265 horses sold Sunday for $5,235,300. The session average was $19,756 and the median was of $12,000. While only 305 of the 410 catalogued head went through the sales ring Sunday, 265 sold for a buy-back rate of just 13.11%.

“The session was very good to us,” Sutherland said. “It felt similar to the second week of [Keeneland] September. I don’t think you can expect fireworks, but you can sell horses very comfortably if you are fair and realistic.”

Through seven sessions, Keeneland has sold 1,512 horses for a gross of $140,214,700. The cumulative average is $92,735 and the median is $42,000. The buy-back rate stands at 22.18%.

The November sale continues through Wednesday with sessions beginning daily at 10 a.m.

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