'TDN Rising Star' Mia Mischief (Into Mischief), heroine of last term's GII Eight Belles S. on Kentucky Derby weekend, broke through for her first top-level score in Saturday's GI Humana Distaff beneath the Twin Spires.
She pressed Amy's Challenge through an opening quarter in :22.70, set her sights on that foe approaching the quarter pole while under very confident handling beneath Ricardo Santana Jr. and took off nicely once sat down in the stretch to pull off the upset over favored GISW Marley's Freedom in a sharp final clocking.
“She's doing really well and this was our first major target of the year with her,” winning trainer Steve Asmussen said. “And she came through. It means so much [getting a Grade I] with a filly who tries as hard as she does.”
Winning owner Bill Heiligbrodt added, “Grade Is are tough but the mare is that quality mare. She's my kind of horse. Go fast and get to the front.”
A painful second in last summer's GI Test S. at Saratoga at this distance, Mia Mischief concluded her sophomore campaign with a ninth-place finish in the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint at Churchill Downs. She began the year with an optional claiming tally at Oaklawn Mar. 3, then was second in the slop as the heavy favorite in the Carousel S. in Hot Springs Apr. 6.
Pedigree Notes:
Mia Mischief becomes the fourth Grade I winner for leading sire Into Mischief. She brought $300,000 from Bill and Corinne Heiligbrodt after breezing an eighth in :10 at the Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream 2-Year-Old Sale. Mia Mischief's winning dam Greer Lynn, a daughter of the very successful broodmare Roll Over Baby (Rollin On Over), produced a Cross Traffic filly in 2017 ($120,000 KEESEP yearling purchase by Timber Stables), an Into Mischief filly in 2018 and a Goldencents filly this year. Geer Lynn, a $400,000 RNA as a KEENOV weanling and a $435,000 RNA as a KEESEP yearling, is a half-sister to four stakes winners, including Value Plus, who was also runner-up in the GI Florida Derby. She is also a half-sister to graded winners Roll Hennessy Roll (Hennessy) and Sing Baby Sing (Unbridled's Song).
Saturday, Churchill Downs
HUMANA DISTAFF S.-GI, $500,000, Churchill Downs, 5-4, 4yo/up, f/m, 7f, 1:21.78, ft.
1–MIA MISCHIEF, 118, f, 4, by Into Mischief
1st Dam: Greer Lynn, by Speightstown
2nd Dam: Roll Over Baby, by Rollin On Over
3rd Dam: Sweet Praise, by Honey Jay
'TDN Rising Star' 1ST GRADE I WIN. ($135,000 Ylg '16 KEESEP;
$300,000 2yo '17 FTFMAR). O-Heiligbrodt, Heiligbrodt, Heider
Family Stables LLC & Madaket Stables LLC; B-Spendthrift Farm
LLC (KY); T-Steven M. Asmussen; J-Ricardo Santana, Jr.
$303,800. Lifetime Record: 14-6-6-0, $883,420. Werk Nick
Rating: A++. Click for eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Marley's Freedom, 120, m, 5, by Blame&log=#tot">Blame
1st Dam: Relaxing Green, by Formal Gold
2nd Dam: Charlotte Augusta, by Chief's Crown
3rd Dam: Noble Damsel, by Vaguely Noble
($35,000 Ylg '15 KEESEP). O-Cicero Farms, LLC; B-Jack Swain
(KY); T-Bob Baffert. $98,000.
3–Amy's Challenge, 118, f, 4, by Artie Schiller
1st Dam: Jump Up, by Jump Start
2nd Dam: Susie Joe's, by Bertrando
3rd Dam: Fleet Cozzene, by Cozzene
($20,000 Ylg '16 FTKOCT). O-Novogratz Racing Stables Inc.;
B-Sierra Farm (KY); T-McLean Robertson. $49,000.
Margins: 1 3/4, 4, 1. Odds: 11.50, 0.90, 4.20.
Also Ran: Spiced Perfection, Emboldened, Spring in the Wind, Talk Veuve to Me. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.
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