Honest Mischief Brings Blue-Blooded Speed to NY

Honest Mischief (Into Mischief-Honest Lady, by Seattle Slew) is the first son of the record-setting leading sire Into Mischief to stand in New York. He also hails from the blue-blooded Juddmonte family that produced Empire Maker, who died at age 20 in January of 2020, leaving a void in the Thoroughbred breeding industry. Raced by Juddmonte and trained by Chad Brown, Honest Mischief now begins his stud career at Becky Thomas's Sequel New York. He will stand for $6,500 LFSN.

Honest Mischief broke his maiden his second time out as a sophomore at Keeneland by eight lengths and was tabbed a 'TDN Rising Star' by virtue of that win. In just his fourth career start, he was third behind Shancelot (Shanghai Bobby) in the GII Amsterdam S. at Saratoga. He was also a runner-up to Volatile (Violence) in 2020 at Churchill Downs in the Aristides S. He retired with a record of 9-4-3-1 and earnings of $287,464.

“Honest Mischief showed a lot of early potential as a dirt horse, especially in being rated very highly by TDN as a Rising Star when he broke his maiden by eight lengths,” said Charl Van Der Weshuizen, Stallion Consultant at Sequel. “That race actually gave him a Ragozin rating of two, which is phenomenal in any young horse.”

Van Der Weshuizen said he felt that Honest Mischief had inherited many of the same traits as his sire.

“I do think Honest Mischief has a lot of the same qualities as his sire, Into Mischief,” said Van Der Weshuizen. “If you actually look at the conformation of Honest Mischief, you see the similarities. He's got a nice deep girth. Personally, I like the fact that he's slightly longer in the back, and he has actually got a shorter cannon, which I like in conformation. He has a really good hip to him as well.”

“Honest Mischief has a really fluent walk,” he continued. “I think he has a good overstep, which is a good sign he is a really good, smooth walker. That compliments his whole conformation setup. A horse that walks quite relaxed, with his head down, does well as a racehorse. Especially with the overstep that they have, they possess the ability for a little bit of extra reach, which always comes in handy. I think giving him the right mare, you will breed a lot of speed. Honest Mischief was a speed horse and he hails from a real Classic speed family.”

Honest Mischief is from the signature Juddmonte family of Toussaud (El Gran Senor). The Grade I-winning mare produced Classic winner and top sire Empire Maker (Unbridled), as well as GISW and sire Chester House (Mr. Prospector), GISW Chiselling (Woodman), MGSW, GISP and sire Decarchy (Distant View), and GISW Honest Lady (Seattle Slew), Honest Mischief's dam. Honest Mischief is one of four black-type winners out of Honest Lady.

With his pristine pedigree and speed on the dirt, Honest Mischief's connections said they were anticipating wide support from breeders across the country, many of whom are new to the New York breeding program.

“Honest Mischief has more people outside of New York as shareholders than any other horse we have stood,” said Becky Thomas, owner of Sequel New York. “For these out-of-state people to contact me and say we want to be involved in this horse really means something. Juddmonte retained a number of breeding rights and they'll be sending mares to him. This is the first time that they've utilized the New York program.”

“An Into Mischief who ran as fast as Honest Mischief did, comes from a rock-solid family and has a support team under him is remarkable,” said Thomas. “I could only sell 20 shares and I have a waiting list.”

Honest Mischief arrived at the sprawling Columbia County, New York farm about two and a half months ago. Of the 89 mares on the farm, a good number have shipped in to breed to Honest Mischief.

“The interest in Honest Mischief has been really phenomenal,” said Van Der Weshuizen. “You know, just by looking at the number of views he has had and people inquiring about him, it's a very good sign. We've had mares that were bought at the Keeneland Sale and then shipped here to foal and are booked to Honest Mischief. So it's very exciting.”

“I have to say he's been really, really good settling into his new home,” he added. “At first, we had him in a smaller paddock. I was hand-walking him a few times a day for a couple of weeks, just to actually get him acclimated into the stud life. Then after that, he moved into his big paddock and he's actually been a pleasure and settled in quite nicely.”

In November 2020, Into Mischief set a new Northern Hemisphere record for single-season earnings by a sire, overturning the reign of Tapit as his son Authentic was crowned 2020 Horse of the Year. The Sequel team said that getting the first son of Into Mischief to stand in the state, and at a reasonable price, was an attention getter, particularly when combined with his dam's royal breeding and her success as a broodmare.

Juddmonte's Garrett O'Rourke told the TDN in November of last year, “Honest Mischief was pegged as a real talent by our exercise riders from the very beginning. He had raw speed, he was sound, and he had desire. He placed behind stars like Shancelot and Volatile at the top of their games and when he won, he won like a Grade I horse. Honest Mischief has such a genetic concentration of classic talent, on top and bottom of his pedigree, that expectation of his success at stud is just a given.”

“Honest Mischief was bred and raced by Juddmonte Farms, which by itself is an extraordinary thing,” said Van Der Weshuizen. “They are globally renowned for their racehorses. To be able to do business with them, and actually have the opportunity that they picked us basically to venture into Honest Mischief with them in New York, by itself, is a big accomplishment. It will be great for Sequel, and I hope for the New York breeding program.”

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The 2020 Freshman Sire Yearbook: Sons Of Uncle Mo Carry On Fast-Starting Tradition

Every freshman sire class has its own story.

In 2019, the narrative centered around how an extremely deep class would stack up against the imposing first book of the first Triple Crown winner in decades, American Pharoah. The year before that, it was a battle of philosophies between Spendthrift Farm sires, with eventual victor Cross Traffic and his champion Jaywalk duking it out against Goldencents' broad army of runners.

The story of the 2020 freshman sire class will be remembered for a horse that debuted at stud nearly a decade ago: Uncle Mo.

After Uncle Mo's own initial crop of runners set records for freshman-sired earnings, his first sons from that crop have carried the momentum into the next generation with aplomb, and in different ways.

Nyquist, who brought home a classic, a Breeders' Cup win and an Eclipse Award for his sire, did it the conventional way, getting runners at the highest level, as he was expected to do. Laoban did it the unconventional way, getting enough graded stakes winners to merit being moved from New York to Kentucky. Outwork, Uncle Mo's very first starter and winner, did it with numbers, piling horses into starting gates and winner's circles.

Of course, sons of Uncle Mo weren't the only ones that had big debuts in 2020. Here is a look back at all the stallions who made a mark last year, and hopefully set themselves up for long careers at stud.

Highest Progeny Earnings, Most Grade 1 Winners, Highest-Earning Individual Runner: Nyquist
Uncle Mo x Seeking Gabrielle, by Forestry
Standing at Darley America
2021 Fee: $75,000
Progeny Earnings: $2,424,083
Leading Earner: Vequist – $1,235,500

Much like Uncle Mo, champion Nyquist got the job done in a big way with his debut crop of juveniles.

The Darley America resident hit just about every quality benchmark one would like to see with his first runners, chief among them being a Breeders' Cup score by Vequist in the Juvenile Fillies. That win gave Nyquist an insurmountable lead in the earnings race among freshman sires, and secured Vequist's spot as the highest-earning freshman-sired runner for 2020.

While Vequist's Breeders' Cup victory held the wheel for much her sire's cumulative success last year, it was anything but a fluke for the filly. She kicked off a giant September for Nyquist, who had the winner and third-place finisher in the G1 Spinaway Stakes at Saratoga, in Vequist and Lady Lilly, respectively. The month ended with Nyquist notching his class-leading second Grade 1 winner when Gretzky the Great took the G1 Summer Stakes at Woodbine, giving the sire wins at the highest level over both dirt and turf.

Nyquist's success at the top of these lists was more than enough to establish Uncle Mo's credentials as a current and future sire of sires, but that notion is driven home by the stallions that fill out the podium. In all three categories that Nyquist led by himself, fellow Uncle Mo stallion Laoban finished third or better. They are joined by Outwork, who had the second-highest-earning freshman-sired runner of 2020 in Grade 1-placed stakes winner Outadore.

Honorable Mentions (Progeny Earnings)
– Laoban (Sequel New York to WinStar Farm):
– Not This Time (Taylor Made Stallions):

Honorable Mentions (Grade 1 Winners)
– Laoban (Sequel New York to WinStar Farm): One G1 Winner
– Not This Time (Taylor Made Stallions): One G1 Winner

Honorable Mention (Highest-Earning Individual Runners)
– Outwork (WinStar Farm): Outadore – $430,100
– Laoban (Sequel New York to WinStar Farm): Simply Ravishing – $414,200

Most Winners, Most Progeny Wins: Not This Time
Giant's Causeway x Miss Macy Sue, by Trippi
Standing at Taylor Made Stallions
2021 Fee: $40,000
2020 Winners: 28
2020 Wins: 34

Not This Time made a big splash in the freshman sire pool when Princess Noor brought $1.35 million at last year's reconfigured Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. June 2-Year-Olds In Training Sale, and the filly's Grade 1-winning campaign helped propel her sire to the upper echelon of his class. However, it was the rank-and-file that truly gave the sire his foundation.

Despite being tied for the fourth-most starters among North America's freshman sires (he had 54, while leader Exaggerator had 69), Not This Time's 28 winners was nine more than next-closest Outwork and Upstart, each with 19. Similarly, the 34 wins his runners racked up last year was comfortably ahead of the tie for second between Nyquist and Upstart with 21.

Filling out the ranks below Princess Noor were stakes winners Dirty Dangle and Vacay, as well as Grade 3-placed Hopeful Princess and Time Goes On.

Honorable Mentions – Winners
– Outwork (WinStar Farm): 19 winners
– Upstart (Airdrie Stud): 19 winners

Honorable Mentions – Progeny Wins
– Nyquist (Darley America): 21 wins
– Upstart (Airdrie Stud): 21 wins

Most Graded Stakes Winners: Nyquist and Laoban

Nyquist
Uncle Mo x Seeking Gabrielle, by Forestry
Standing at Darley America
2021 Fee: $75,000
Graded Winners: Vequist and Gretzky the Great

Laoban
Uncle Mo x Chattertown, by Speightstown
Standing at WinStar Farm (formerly at Sequel New York)
2021 Fee: $25,000
Graded Winners: Simply Ravishing and Keepmeinmind

Again, Uncle Mo's hoofprints can be found all over the top of the freshman sire ranks.

We've already touched off on Nyquist's high-end achievements, spearheaded by Grade 1 winners Vequist and Gretzky the Great. Both horses could realistically end the year as champions in their respective divisions: Vequist with the Eclipse Award as champion 2-year-old female, and Gretzky the Great with the Sovereign Award as Canada's champion 2-year-old male.

Laoban earned his spot on the podium with Simply Ravishing, winner of the Grade 1 Alcibiades Stakes, and with Keepmeinmind in the G2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes.

Honorable Mentions (All With One Graded Stakes Winner):
– Not This Time (Taylor Made Stallions)
Frosted (Darley America)
Brody's Cause (Spendthrift Farm)
Hit It a Bomb (Spendthrift Farm)

Value Play: Upstart
Flatter x Party Silks, by Touch Fold
Standing at Airdrie Stud
2021 Stud Fee: $10,000

Airdrie Stud traditionally hasn't let the allure of a first-crop stallion cloud its judgment when it comes to setting the stud fee for their inaugural season. That philosophy rewarded a lot of breeders with Upstart, who entered stud in 2017 with an advertised fee of $10,000.

That started in the sale ring, where Upstart's first yearlings averaged $61,898 in 2019. That's a healthy return on investment, but for those who like to swing for the fences, Upstart had 14 yearlings bring $100,000, led by a colt who brought $510,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale.

Upstart's 2-year-olds performed respectably as well. Even through the uncertainty of the 2020 juvenile auction calendar, his first juveniles averaged $104,400 from 25 sold, headed up by a $600,000 colt at the OBS March sale.

Upstart continued to reward his investors once his first foals hit the racetrack, tying for the second-most winners and wins in his class. Many young sires pick up bulk numbers like that by scattering maiden winners around the map, but Upstart made a splash on the highest level with multiple Grade 1-placed Reinvestment Risk, who competed in last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile.

Elsewhere, the stallion was represented by Upstriker, who just missed Grade 1 black type when he finished fourth in the G1 Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland after a five-length first-out score at Ellis Park. Also in that race was fifth-place Founder, who won on debut in Saratoga.

From a relatively low entry price, Upstart has proven he can get a horse into the winner's circle just about anywhere. The stallion himself only got better as he got older, so that bodes well for his runners as they enter deeper water.

Regional Standout: Laoban
Uncle Mo x Chattertown, by Speightstown
Standing at WinStar Farm (formerly at Sequel New York)
2021 Fee: $25,000

There was only going to be one answer here. Laoban's rapid ascent to one of the top freshman sires in his class earned him a ticket south from Sequel New York to WinStar Farm for the upcoming breeding season.

The son of Uncle Mo's ability to move up his mares was apparent as early as last year's Saratoga meet, when Simply Ravishing won the P. G. Johnson Stakes and Ava's Grace finished third in the G2 Adirondack Stakes.

Laoban's unforgettable fall season was highlighted by a showcase weekend at Keeneland, in which Simply Ravishing took the G1 Alcibiades Stakes and Keepmeinmind finished second in the G1 Breeders' Futurity. The latter went on to win the G2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill Downs a month later.

He tied for the most graded stakes winners in his freshman class, and he finished third or better by progeny earnings, Grade 1 winners, and highest-earning individual runner. He'll have three more New York-sired crops before we see runners on the track that were conceived by breeders who knew what they've really got with Laoban, but a start like his offers nothing but blue sky for his future at stud, regardless of where he's standing.

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First-Year Honest Mischief Heads Sequel New York’s 2021 Stallion Roster

Sequel Stallions New York announces its 2021 stud fees, led by New York's first son of 2020 leading sire Into Mischief, Honest Mischief who will stand for $6,500 LFSN.

The freaky-fast bay is new for the 2021 season and will be backed by a syndicate led by Sequel, with global powerhouse Juddmonte Farms in support.

New York's perennial leading sire Freud will stand for $5,000. Freud, New York's leading sire by number of black type winners, turf, and AEI is the versatile full brother to Giant's Causeway. He has lifetime progeny earnings over $65 million dollars aptly earning his nom de course as the “King Of New York.”

“It is a very tough climate in the sales market anywhere now, but especially in the regional markets. We want to give our breeders a chance to be profitable,” said Sequel's Becky Thomas. “The recent sales in Kentucky have clearly demonstrated breeding in Kentucky does not guarantee a profit. The lower stallion fees, no transportation or boarding costs coupled with the lucrative purse structure NYRA offers and resulting awards will give our breeders the opportunity to recover from the dismal 2020 season.”

Unbridled's Song's Grade 1-performing millionaire, Mission Impazible has led every crop he has had of racing age with progeny earnings over $9 million dollars with just five crops of racing age and 45 percent winners. Twin Creeks Farm and Sequel continue to provide support secondary to his progeny success on the racetrack.

Multiple stakes winner Union Jackson is the first son of two-time Horse of the Year Curlin to stand in New York. He is out of Hot Dixie Chick, a Grade 1-winning half-sister to Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming. Standing in New York for a partnership between Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings and Sequel New York, his gorgeous first crop are looking to be very fast 2-year-olds of 2021.

Track record-setting, multiple graded stakes winner, Destin, a full brother to Grade 1 sire Creative Cause, was nosed in the Belmont Stakes. He is owned by a syndicate and is supported by Gainesway Farm, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Twin Creeks Farm as well as Sequel New York.

The 2021 Sequel New York Roster is:

Destin – $2,500 (Giant's Causeway – Dream Of Summer, by Siberian Summer)
Freud – $5,000 (Storm Cat – Mariah's Storm, by Rahy)
Honest Mischief – $6,500 (Into Mischief – Honest Lady, by Seattle Slew)
Mission Impazible – $2,500 (Unbridled's Song – La Paz, by Hold Your Peace)
Union Jackson – $2,500 (Curlin – Hot Dixie Chick, by Dixie Union)

All fees are Live Foal/Stands & Nurses. Multiple mare discounts are available as well as incentives for repeat breeders.

Due to covid restrictions, it is unlikely there will be a stallion showcase this year. Virtual inspections for all the stallions will be available in the near future.

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Honest Mischief Retired to Sequel Stallions

Blue-blooded black-type winner and graded stakes-placed Honest Mischief (Into Mischief–Honest Lady, by Seattle Slew), who hails from one of the top families in the stud book, has been retired to Sequel Stallions New York. He will stand for $6,500 LFSN.

The Juddmonte homebred broke his maiden at second asking at Keeneland at three by eight lengths and was tabbed a TDN Rising Starby virtue of that win, then went on to be third behind Shancelot (Shanghai Bobby) in the GII Amsterdam S. at Saratoga in just his fourth career start. An allowance win at Keeneland and a win in the Force the Pass City of Laurel S. at Laurel closed out his sophomore campaign. He began this year with a runner-up finish to Volatile (Violence) in Churchill’s Aristides S. and closed with it with a win via disqualification at the same track in September. The Chad Brown trainee retires with a record of 9-4-3-1 and earnings of $287,464.

“Honest Mischief was pegged as a real talent by our exercise riders from the very beginning,” said Juddmonte’s Garrett O’Rourke. “He had raw speed, he was sound, and he had desire. He placed behind stars like Shancelot and Volatile at the top of their games and when he won, he won like a Grade I horse. Honest Mischief has such a genetic concentration of classic talent, on top and bottom of his pedigree, that expectation of his success at stud is just a given.”

By record-setting leading sire Into Mischief, Honest Mischief is from the signature Juddmonte family of Toussud (El Gran Senor). The remarkable Grade I-winning mare became a blue hen, producing Classic winner and sire Empire Maker (Unbridled), as well as GISW and sire Chester House (Mr. Prospector), GISW Chiselling (Woodman), MGSW, GISP, and sire Decarchy (Distant View), and GISW Honest Lady (Seattle Slew), who is Honest Mischief’s dam. Honest Mischief is one of four black-type winners out of Honest Lady, including GISW and sire First Defence (Unbridled’s Song).

“To stand at stud the son of such an incredible sire, as well as the magnificent female family Honest Mischief exhibits, is beyond exciting,” said Sequel’s Becky Thomas. “I am a super fan of Into Mischief and am honored to bring Honest Mischief to New York with the support and participation of Juddmonte Farm.”

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