Fast pair give Heiligbrodts plenty to celebrate

When owner Bill Heiligbrodt attended an auction of 2-year-olds in training in Florida back in April 2017, there was one thing he knew for certain about a bay colt by Eskendereya.

“I wasn’t leaving there without him,” he said.

Heiligbrodt’s wife, Corinne, would name the colt Mitole. It was a nod to the Karankawa Indians who once populated the Texas Gulf Coast region where both she and her husband were raised, and it fit on pedigree, as the colt was out of the Indian Charlie mare Indian Miss.

“We had kind of studied the history of the Karankawa, and it was interesting to us,” Bill Heiligbrodt said. “Those actual Indians became extinct before the Civil War because of disease. They lived off all the oysters and shrimp they could easily catch. The mitole was a ceremony they celebrated when they won a victory, or had some major good thing happen to them. That’s what they called it, a mitole.”

There’s been lots of mitoles in racing for the Heiligbrodts. The couple got into the sport in 1989 and have raced, alone or in partnership, the Grade 1 winners Lady Tak, Golden Ballet, Cashier’s Dream, and Appealing Zophie.

Mitole, himself, has won his last seven starts, including the Grade 1, $1.2 million Metropolitan Handicap, and he will attempt to extend his streak Saturday, when he turns back to six furlongs for the Grade 1, $350,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt at Saratoga.

The Heiligbrodts also have had recent Grade 1 success with Mia Mischief, who runs Wednesday at Saratoga in the Grade 2, $200,000 Honorable Miss. In addition, they have two of the top Louisiana-breds running right now in Shang and Halfmoon Reef.

In all, the Heiligbrodt’s 12-horse stable based with Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen has gone 16 for 53 this year, for earnings of $1.8 million. And those numbers don’t even reflect the 3-for-4 year had by Mia Mischief, because she’s owned in partnership with Heider Family Stables and Madaket Stables.

“It has to be our best year,” Bill Heiligbrodt said. “We’ve won three Grade 1 races in the last 90 days. Before, we won a lot of money, had been in the top 10, but we were racing a lot more horses. We’ve been very, very fortunate with our selections. Our team has accomplished this, and the team is everyone that touches these horses, from Susan Montanye, to Steve and Steve’s staff, including Scott Blasi and Darren Fleming.”

Asmussen has registered about 1,000 of his more than 8,500 career wins for the Heiligbrodts. Their most recent stakes win together, Halfmoon Reef on July 6 at Evangeline Downs, was the 129th individual stakes winner for the Heiligbrodts.

“You put all of them together, and the perfect one is Mitole,” Asmussen said.

The Heiligbrodts paid $140,000 for the colt at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. auction, targeting him for both his pedigree and gallop-out following an eighth-mile sale work.

“Corinne marks horses in the catalog that have ties to Indian Charlie, just because those horses have always proven to me they’re fast, and I’ve always wanted to go fast,” said Heiligbrodt, who has won graded sprints with the Indian Charlie colts Bwana Charlie and Cinco Charlie.

Mitole worked a quick 10 seconds, but Bill Heiligibrodt was more interested in what transpired afterward. The horse drifted a number of paths off the rail galloping out, traveling farther off the fence than his peers.

“I always time horses after the work, to see how fast they gallop out,” Heiligbrodt said. “I seem to get more info there than I do from the official breeze. He had gone faster out there than any other horse I timed out. That’s really what turned me on to him.”

Mitole has gone 8 for 11 with earnings of $1,642,910. He defeated an outstanding field in the Met Mile in his last start June 8 at Belmont Park, winning by three-quarters of a length over McKinzie and Thunder Snow.

“The winner’s circle was great because Jim McIngvale sponsored the Met Mile with his stallion Runhappy,” Heiligbrodt said of his fellow Houston resident. “He was there to give the trophy and commented, ‘Here we are in New York, one of the greatest racing scenes, and this is an all Texas winner’s circle.’ I really appreciate him, He’s great for racing, and he’s one of the most philanthropic men in the world.”

The Heiligbrodts had another memorable afternoon May 4, when Mitole won the Churchill Downs Stakes and Mia Mischief won the Humana Distaff, both under regular rider Ricardo Santana Jr.

“To win two Grade 1s on Derby Day for Bill and Corinne Heiligbrodt – what they’ve meant to our barn and who they are personally – it was very special,” Asmussen said.

The hope is that by year’s end both horses will land in the Breeders’ Cup. Mia Mischief is a leading candidate for the Filly and Mare Sprint, while Mitole has options, having already locked up a berth for the Dirt Mile.

“The Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita, that would be the culmination of his racing career,” Heiligbrodt said. “He’s got the Win and You’re In for the Dirt Mile. There’s also the Sprint. We’ll be able to double enter, if Steve chooses. We’ll see what Mitole does between now and then. Right now, he’s in Saratoga. He’s happy, and hopefully,he’ll run well again.”

Heiligbrodt hopes the same for near-millionaire Mia Mischief, an Into Mischief filly he bought a month prior to Mitole. He paid $300,000 for her at the 2-year-olds in training sale that Fasig-Tipton put on at Gulfstream Park.

“She’s one of the highest-priced horses I’ve ever bought,” Heiligbrodt said. “I thought she was the fastest horse in the sale, but it’s not often I’m able to buy the fastest horse. She sold really early in the sale, in the first 10 horses, and I think being early really allowed me to be able to buy her. She’s a really special horse as well.

“If I found another horse like these two, it would be unthinkable. They’re that good. But let me tell you the other side of it – I’m still looking for fast horses and it’s fun!”