Mia Mischief sets stakes record in Purple Martin

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Mia Mischief rolled out new tactics and cruised to the wire Saturday at Oaklawn to win the $150,000 Purple Martin finishing 8 1/4 lengths clear of runner-up Salt Bae.

The Purple Martin was a six-furlong race for 3-year-old fillies.

Mia Mischief ($3.20) had done her best work on the front end leading up to the Purple Martin. But on Saturday she was content to sit in third in the early stages as Salt Bae and Vision of Justice dueled through an opening quarter in 21.46 seconds. Mia Mischief moved past them through a half-mile in 45.16 seconds, began to separate herself from her rivals past the eighth pole, and won handily. She covered the distance on a fast track in a stakes-record time of 1:09.65.

“We turned for home and she came home pretty good,” winning rider Ricardo Santana Jr. said. “She was much the best today.”

Mia Mischief is trained by Steve Asmussen, who has now won five runnings of the Purple Martin. The race was formerly called the Instant Racing.

Mia Mischief won the first stakes race of her career. She earned $90,000 for the victory for owners Bill and Corinne Heiligbrodt. Mia Mischief overall has won three of five starts and earned $220,800.

Mia Mischief is a daughter of Into Mischief. She was a memorable maiden special weight winner at Keeneland in October, when she rolled by 16.25 lengths. Mia Mischief went on to run second in both the Spendthrift Farm Juvenile Fillies Stallion Stakes at Churchill and the Dixie Belle at Oaklawn before winning a stakes of her own Saturday.