2023 Eclipse Awards: Pretty Mischievous

A successful debut season by Pretty Mischievous in 2022 was merely the foundation to a chart-topping campaign in 2023. Pretty Mischievous won four graded stakes, more than any 3-year-old in North America, to emerge as the favorite to win the Eclipse Award as outstanding 3-year-old filly.

Pretty Mischievous, trained by Brendan Walsh and owned and bred by Godolphin, never had a bad day of racing in 2023. She made six starts, won four graded stakes, finished second in two others, and showcased her versatility capturing two of the most prestigious Grade 1 races for her division – the Longines Kentucky Oaks at 1 1/8 miles and the Test Stakes at seven furlongs.

Sandwiched between the Oaks at Churchill Downs and Test at Saratoga, Pretty Mischievous scored a narrow victory in the Grade 1 Acorn at Belmont Park. By the end of the year, Pretty Mischievous was in elite company – one of only five horses in North America to win four or more graded stakes.

:: Full list of 2023 Eclipse Awards finalists, including profile stories

Pretty Mischievous was cut out to be special. Sired by Into Mischief, she was the second runner produced by Grade 1 winner Pretty City Dancer. Pretty Mischievous went 3 for 4 as a juvenile, but Walsh felt she had more to give at age 3.

Pretty Mischievous launched her campaign Feb. 18 at Fair Grounds, winning the Grade 2 Rachel Alexandra by three-quarters of a length. But next time out, she squandered the lead and finished second in the Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks. Despite losing by more than three lengths, it was on to the Kentucky Oaks.

Walsh decided on a key equipment change into the biggest race of her career. Pretty Mischievous would wear blinkers for the first time in a race when she started from post 14 in the Kentucky Oaks. Walsh’s reasoning: “We just wanted to get her to focus a little better.”

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The outside post was a tough draw for the filly, who was reunited with jockey Tyler Gaffalione. Wide-trip worries proved well founded. Pretty Mischievous lost ground on both turns. No matter. Forwardly placed in fifth, she broke it open into the Churchill Downs stretch, led by three lengths at the eighth pole, and held on to win by a head.

Pretty Mischievous was not done yet. She shipped to Belmont to win the Acorn Stakes by a head, and followed with a heartbreaking victory in the Test. Pretty Mischievous was on her way to a creditable runner-up finish when leader Maple Leaf Mel broke down in deep stretch. Pretty Mischievous crossed the wire first, winning her third straight Grade 1.

A runner-up finish by Pretty Mischievous in the Grade 1 Cotillion at Parx Racing turned out to be the final start of her 2023 campaign. After shipping to Santa Anita for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, she became “dull” and was scratched. Pretty Mischievous won four races and $1,703,250 from six starts in 2023 and is scheduled to return as a 4-year-old in 2024.

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