Practical Joke to stand next year at Ashford Stud

Grade 1 winner Practical Joke will begin his stallion career at Ashford Stud in Versailles, Ky., during the 2018 breeding season, upon the conclusion of his racing campaign.

The 3-year-old son of Into Mischief most recently won the Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkins Stakes on Aug. 26 at Saratoga, and will likely make his next start in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Del Mar. Chad Brown trains Practical Joke for owners Klaravich Stables and William Lawrence.

“He’s a very, very good-looking horse, he’s by one of the hottest sires in the country, and he’s amongst the very best racehorses of his generation,” said Ashford Stud manager Dermot Ryan. “We’re absolutely delighted that he’s coming to stand here.”

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Practical Joke has won 5 of 10 starts for earnings of $1,670,800. In addition to his Jerkins score, the colt has also won the Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes and the Grade 3 Dwyer Stakes.

His four graded placings came in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational, and the Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes and Fountain of Youth Stakes.

Bred in Kentucky by Whispering Oaks, Practical Joke is out of the stakes-placed Distorted Humor mare Halo Humor, who is the dam of two runners from four foals to race. He is from the extended family of Grade 2 winner Moment of Hope, and Grade 3 winners Aggressive Bid and Dunham’s Gift.