It’s not far, as the crow flies, from the old River Downs outside Cincinnati to Churchill Downs. But metaphorically, the distance is vast. Ohio-bred Harlan’s Holiday won a pair of stakes at River Downs in 2001 for trainer Kenny McPeek, including the Cradle Stakes, a notable event for several decades. Harlan’s Holiday went on to a career in which he was a multiple Grade 1 winner, was saddled by McPeek in the 2002 Kentucky Derby, and earned more than $3.6 million. That was a fine record for an Ohio-bred from a modest background, but what he left behind at stud is his real legacy. Harlan’s Holiday, who died in 2013, sired 55 graded or group stakes winners. One of them is Grade 1 winner Into Mischief, who has ensured that Harlan’s Holiday’s branch of the Storm Cat/Storm Bird/Northern Dancer sireline is alive and thriving. Into Mischief, who stands at Spendthrift Farm, claimed his sixth consecutive North American general sire title in 2024, placing him among some of the bloodstock industry’s all-time greats. He also brought things full circle back to McPeek. Goldencents, who stands alongside his sire Into Mischief at Spendthrift, became a classic stallion in his own right this season, siring Mystik Dan, who prevailed in a thrilling three-horse photo finish in the 150th edition of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs, giving McPeek his first victory in that classic. Mystik Dan has been a fine representative for Into Mischief’s sireline, calling to mind some of the great horses in the family. Harlan’s Holiday was by the Storm Cat horse Harlan, and Storm Cat was a grandson of the great racehorse and influential sire Northern Dancer. McPeek has mentioned several times that Mystik Dan physically reminds him of Northern Dancer. “If you look at the blaze and the body, he does look a lot like Northern Dancer, but also Harlan’s Holiday,” McPeek said. “Harlan’s Holiday has transcended into being a really good sireline.” McPeek also said one of his Derby winner’s best attributes is his temperament. “His mind, he gets that, I think, from Harlan’s Holiday,” McPeek said. “He’s just a real old soul.” Being the grandsire of a classic winner was a feather in the cap for Into Mischief, whose progeny earned $35,406,575 in 2024, according to Daily Racing Form statistics. That not only easily outpaced runner-up Gun Runner at Three Chimneys Farm, with $22,488,544, but smashed Into Mischief’s own single-season earnings record of $28,568,753 from the 2022 season. Family and farm staff have recalled that the late Spendthrift owner B. Wayne Hughes, who died in 2021, believed Into Mischief could be “the next Northern Dancer.” The stallion, who climbed from his modest initial stud fee and books to his current ranking, is validating that faith. This is the most consecutive sire titles for a North American stallion since the great Bold Ruler led the list for seven straight years, from 1963-69. Bold Ruler claimed an eighth title posthumously in 1973, the year his son Secretariat dominated the Triple Crown. Bold Ruler is tied with the pre-Civil War stallion Glencoe for the second-most North American sire titles all-time, trailing only the great Lexington, whose career spanned the Civil War while he rolled to an incredible 16 titles. :: This story is part of the annual Daily Racing Form Stallions Guide. Download the complete special edition here :: In addition to taking the earnings title, Into Mischief also led the nation in individual winners, individual black-type winners, individual graded stakes winners with 17, and individual Grade 1 winners with five in 2024. Those top-level winners helped him be a factor on a number of other sire lists. Into Mischief was the nation’s leading 2-year-old sire in terms of earnings, powered by multiple Grade 1 winner Citizen Bull, whose victory in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar took him to a divisional Eclipse Award championship. Into Mischief also demonstrated his versatility with Gina Romantica, who repeated in the Grade 1 First Lady Stakes on the Keeneland turf. She helped her sire finish fifth on the turf sires list. Into Mischief’s other Grade/Group 1 winners on the year were Dubai World Cup winner Laurel River, Santa Anita Handicap winner Newgate, and Ashland Stakes winner Leslie’s Rose. Into Mischief was also among the leaders according to Daily Racing Form’s exclusive stallion metrics, the Beyer Sire Performance Standings. He sired 61 individual horses who combined to turn in 122 benchmark Beyer Speed Figures of 90 or higher, leading the standings in both categories. Along with his own success, Into Mischief continued to expand his reputation as a sire of sires, with Practical Joke finishing ninth on the general sires list and Goldencents finishing 12th. Practical Joke, who stands at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud, was represented on the season by a pair of Grade 1 winners in Domestic Product and Ways and Means. Practical Joke tied on the Beyer Sire Standings with the most triple-digit figures turned in by his progeny; he and Gun Runner each had 10 such numbers. Goldencents, who was one of the leading freshman sires of 2018, has continued on steadily over the last several years. In addition to Mystik Dan – who also won the Grade 3 Southwest Stakes, finished second in the Preakness Stakes, and was third in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby – Goldencents was helped into his best placing yet on the general sires list by J B Strikes Back, who won the Grade 2 Laffit Pincay Jr. Stakes in the waning days of 2024. McPeek advised on the mating that produced Mystik Dan and chose two-time Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Goldencents for the Colonel John mare Ma’am. “She had stamina, [but] she wasn’t quite quick enough to be a stakes horse,” McPeek said. “But she was solid. This is a filly who tried hard every time out. I encouraged Lance [Gasaway] and his father and brother to keep her, and then my vision on it would be, she needed an injection of speed – and she got that from Goldencents. And they’re similar packages. When breeding racehorses, you need to breed like to like, and I thought that, physically, he matches her really well, but he would add that gas that you needed, and look what we got.” In addition to his established sons on the general sire list, Into Mischief was represented by three young sons in the top 10 on the 2024 freshman sire list. Those were led by his 2020 Kentucky Derby and Breeders’ Cup Classic winner and Horse of the Year Authentic, who finished seventh for Spendthrift. Honest Mischief of Sequel Stallions was eighth, while Taylor Made’s Instagrand was 10th. Good things are in the pipeline for the sireline. Mandaloun became Into Mischief’s unprecedented second consecutive Derby winner when he was elevated by disqualification in the 2021 edition. Now standing at Juddmonte Farm, he has his first yearlings this year. The same applies to well-regarded multiple Grade 1 winner Life Is Good at WinStar Farm. Into Mischief’s sons entering stud this year include Grade 1 winners Newgrange at Three Chimneys and Timberlake at WinStar, pushing his total to two dozen overall. The current don of the line is still going strong. Into Mischief continues to reign at $250,000, tied with young guns Gun Runner and Justify for the top stud fee in the country, and keeps attracting stellar books of mares – both from Spendthrift and major outside breeders – that should ensure continued success. “He’s got some tremendous crops coming, so it’s going to continue to be very, very strong,” Spendthrift general manager Ned Toffey told Ocala Breeders’ Sales, where Hughes bought his star as a youngster. “One of the exciting things for me is, in recent years, we’re starting to use him ourselves more and more. Some of these special mares that we’ve bought, like [two-time Eclipse champion] Monomoy Girl, have gone to Into Mischief a couple times. When he was breeding small books, his percentages were through the roof. No horse is going to be able to maintain those kinds of percentages when the books get much bigger, but he’s doing a remarkable job of coming as close to that as a horse can. That’s why he’s going on six years in a row as leading sire, because he’s such a high-percentage horse, and always has been.”