Into Mischief, Authentic form strong father-son combo at Spendthrift

Fresh off claiming his first North American general sire title in 2019, Spendthrift Farm’s Into Mischief continued to raise the bar higher and higher for himself in 2020. He sired his first classic winner in Kentucky Derby victor Authentic. That colt went on to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic, one of two track record-setting winners on the program for Into Mischief, whose daughter Gamine also set a track record winning the Filly and Mare Sprint.

Both are likely to be divisional Eclipse Award champions, and, along with nine other graded stakes winners, have put Into Mischief well on the path to claiming his second consecutive sire title. He will do so with a flourish, as, with more than a month remaining in 2020, he broke the single-season earnings record for a North American stallion. Through Nov. 24, Into Mischief’s progeny have earned $21,165,372, according to Daily Racing Form statistics. Tapit established the previous mark of $19,907,973 in 2016 – the third consecutive year he had broken the mark while leading the sire list three times. Into Mischief’s bankroll includes a $1 million bonus awarded to Authentic for sweeping the Haskell Invitational, Kentucky Derby, and Breeders’ Cup Classic, although Into Mischief’s racetrack earnings would have surpassed the record threshold without it.

Into Mischief’s sons are thus considered hot commodities, as the stallion, also a leader in the commercial arena, has gotten off to a strong start as a sire of sires. Coming in with the highest expectations of all is Derby and Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Authentic, who joins his sire at Spendthrift Farm.

Authentic will have the chance to put his best foot forward in his debut season, while Into Mischief will garner another outstanding book of mares in 2021. In order to continue to support its top stallions, Spendthrift was bullish in the market at the elite North American mixed sales in November. The farm purchased 12 horses for a total of $25,030,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky fall selected mixed sale, led by champion Monomoy Girl, who will remain in training for 2021 before eventually joining the broodmare band, for $9.5 million. The purchases also included Grade 1 winner Bast, in foal to Justify, for $4.2 million; Grade 1 winner She’s a Julie for $3 million; Grade 1 winner Got Stormy, who also will race next year, for $2.75 million; and stakes winner Mother Mother for $1.8 million. Spendthrift continued on to purchase four mares for $2,997,000 at the Keeneland November breeding stock sale, led by Sovereign Award champion Holy Helena, carrying her first foal, for $1.5 million.

“The main idea was to add some mares that would work with the top-end stallions on our roster,” Spendthrift general manager Ned Toffey said. “A lot of the mares that will work with Into Mischief will also work with Authentic – and Authentic has now done enough where you can justify breeding the same caliber of mare. That was the main purpose in mind with the buying that we did, was to support the books of our top stallions.”

Authentic won the Breeders’ Cup Classic by 2 1/4 lengths on Nov. 7 at Keeneland in what proved to be his final start before vanning to Spendthrift two days later. The colt concluded his racing career with six wins and two runner-up efforts from eight starts and earnings of more than $7.1 million. A May foal, Authentic won the Grade 3 Sham Stakes and Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes earlier this year, then finished second in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby before winning the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational in July. He truly came to hand in the final months of this season, stating his case for championship honors by turning back Tiz the Law to win the postponed Kentucky Derby on Sept. 5, losing a hard-fought Preakness Stakes by a neck to the filly Swiss Skydiver on Oct. 3, and winning the Classic.

Authentic was bred in Kentucky by Peter E. Blum Thoroughbreds. He was a $350,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase by SF Racing and Starlight Racing, with Fred Hertrich III, John D. Fielding, Golconda Stables, and Madaket Stables also joining his ownership group. Earlier this year, Spendthrift announced that it had purchased a majority interest in the colt. The farm continued to campaign him with Starlight and Madaket and with the micro-share ownership experience outfit MyRacehorse joining in. SF, Hertrich, Fielding, and Golconda sold their respective interests. The colt was trained by Bob Baffert throughout his career.

“This was what we hoped we would have at the end of the year,” Toffey said of the operation’s decision to purchase Authentic’s rights. “In the horse business, plans don’t always come together the way you’d like, so this was just a dream scenario for us. Couldn’t be happier with his career, and really happy to have him here now at Spendthrift. Looking forward to his second career.”

Authentic was the first classic winner for Into Mischief, whose march to the 2019 sire title was led by Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint winner and dual Eclipse Award divisional champion Covfefe. Coming off this blockbuster season, Into Mischief, who led all stallions by gross at the Keeneland September yearling sale, will stand for an advertised fee of $225,000 next year, making him the most expensive stallion in North America. Authentic’s fee has been set at $75,000, making him the highest-priced incoming stallion of 2021 thus far.

Into Mischief’s first son to stud was his two-time Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Goldencents, who stands at Spendthrift. The stallion finished second by earnings and first by individual winners in the freshman sire class of 2018. Led by graded stakes winners By My Standards and Mr. Money, he led all second-crop sires in 2019 and continues to lead his class as a third-crop sire in 2020, through Nov. 22. Spendthrift continued to double down on the sireline by adding Into Mischief’s graded stakes-winning juvenile Maximus Mischief to its roster in 2020. The farm also owns the future rights to Mr. Money.

“People have asked us, ‘How many sons of Into Mischief do you want?’ and we say, ‘We want them all!’ ” Spendthrift stallion sales manager Mark Toothaker said. “It’s the best blood out there right now in American racing.”