Centsational was an impressive debut winner at 2 sprinting on turf, and — after being acquired privately as a broodmare prospect — will have her first mating in 2023 with the G1 Kentucky Derby winner Mandaloun at Juddmonte Farm as a member of his first book of mares.
In addition to the precocity that she demonstrated on the track, Centsational has appeal as a broodmare prospect because her 4th dam is the Blue Hen broodmare Missy Baba, the tail-female ancestress of AP Indy, Summer Squall, Lemon Drop Kid, Havre de Grace, Tonalist, etc, etc. Closer up in her pedigree are black-type runners by three separate Storm Cat-line stallions (all of whom were generally duds at stud, their success with this female family notwithstanding), one by a son of Unbridled, and then Centsational’s black-type winning half-sister Somethingelse, by Leroidesanimaux.
Mandaloun’s pedigree actually blends all of these elements together, which is what makes him an intriguing match for Centsational specifically. He is from the Storm Cat sire-line via his sire, Into Mischief, out of a mare by Empire Maker (a son of Unbridled), with a second dam by Dansili, whose own dam is a half-sister to Leroidesanimaux (and whose pedigree contains Blushing Groom relatively close-up, who is a presence in the pedigrees of several stallions that have crossed well with this female family).
For us, those pedigree elements trump the “No Rating” assigned to this matchup by TrueNicks (they limit it to the Harlan’s Holiday/Buckaroo cross, which does have 10 winners from just 15 runners, including a G2-placed runner), especially given the success that the Storm Cat-line more broadly has had with broodmares from the Montbrook sire-line (Centsational’s dam being by Montbrook’s G1 BC Sprint-winning son Big Drama).
Mandaloun himself is a fascinating stallion prospect, as well — he was unbeaten in 2 starts at 2YO, crossed the wire first in the G2 Risen Star at 3YO and was also the promoted winner of both the G1 Kentucky Derby (DQ of Medina Spirit) and the G1 Haskell (DQ of Hot Rod Charlie). He returned at 4 to take the G3 Louisiana Stakes over Midnight Bourbon, before retiring to stud later that year at his birthplace. His dam is a multiple group winner in Europe, and her dam is a stakes-winning full-sister to G1 winner Emulous in a typically deep Juddmonte family. By the four-time reigning champion sire Into Mischief, whose sons at stud have proven hugely popular, Mandaloun represents the stretchier, scopier type of horse that Into Mischief can get when bred to more classically-inclined mares after starting out as a sire of predominantly early-developing speed horses.
With all of that going for Mandaloun, and this cross, we are excited to see the foal that it produces in 2024!