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Maximus Mischief was a brilliant and unbeaten 2YO who still holds the distinction of having earned the fastest speed figures of any juvenile by his sire, the incredible Into Mischief. Maximus Mischief now stands alongside his sire, and appears poised to be a leading freshman sire in 2023 when his first foals reach the races, which will catapult his own stud fee much higher than its current $7,500 and make those mares bred to him this spring look like bargains.
A $165,000 weanling purchase by the savvy judges at Machmer Hall, Maximus Mischief was pinhooked through the Fasig-Tipton Timonium 2YO sale where he brought $340,000 from Chuck Zacney. Four months later he made his racing debut going 5-1/2 furlongs at Parx for trainer Butch Reid, and he broke like a shot before sprinting home 8-3/4 lengths in front while earning a 94 Beyer Speed Figure (BSF), “under wraps.” Three weeks later he tried allowance company at 7 furlongs, and this time he was an unchallenged, 6-length wire-to-wire winner, in a time that translated to a gaudy 98 BSF (the best of the year by a 2YO) and earned him the TDN Rising Star designation.
Stepped up to stakes company for his juvenile finale, Maximus Mischief kept his unbeaten record intact with another front-end victory by open lengths in the Remsen Stakes-G2 at a mile-and-an-eighth. His Beyer for this win was “only” a 97, the fastest figure in the race in half-a-dozen years. His three-for-three 2YO campaign sent him to Florida for the winter hot on the Triple Crown trail, and earned him numerous comparisons to the Parx-based Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Smarty Jones, as well as his owner’s Preakness and Belmont winner Afleet Alex. Unfortunately, Maximus Mischief made just one start at 3 (a 3rd in the Holy Bull-G2 as the favorite) before a soft tissue injury forced him to the sidelines, and eventually into retirement.
A tall, long, strong-bodied horse, Maximus Mischief showed plenty of speed and athleticism despite his lanky frame. And he has passed his physical onto his offspring, as witnessed by the fact that his 95 yearlings sold in 2022 (from 113 through the ring, an excellent 84% clearance rate) for an average of $54,479 (more than 7x his stud fee) and a median of $40,000 (more than 5x his stud fee). No fewer than 13 of his yearlings sold for six figures (including one bred by Wasabi). In addition to his strong early sales, breeders showed how impressed they were with the Maximus Mischief foals by sending him so many mares in ’22 that he was booked full last year at Spendthrift (where that’s a real achievement) at the same $7,500 fee that he retired with, so no subsequent-year discount as is usual there.
Given Maximus Mischief’s own success as a 2YO in-training purchase and then on the track at 2, his offspring can be expected to be popular in Ocala and at Timonium this winter, and we fully expect them to come out running early and often this summer. Especially with Into Mischief’s son Goldencents having already been a top freshman sire a few years ago (first by winners, with 29, and second on earnings), the future looks very bright for Maximus Mischief and those who breed to him in 2023.
In Yuletide he’ll get a mate who is by an equally fast stallion herself, as Street Boss was a multiple G1-winning sprinter and has sired top 2YOs in Australia like Anamoe, and he’s already the broodmare sire of the very quick Maryland-bred filly Miss J McKay. TrueNicks rates this cross a “B”, as it has produced the G1-winning sprinter Bell’s the One, while Yuletide is out of a Medaglia d’Oro mare and he is the broodmare sire of G3-winning 2YO Wit from the Into Mischief sire-line.
Meanwhile, Yuletide’s dam is a half-sister to the G1-winning 2YO Grace Hall — so there is plenty of precocity that she brings to the table as well, and there are several relatives on her catalog page set to boost it in ’23, including a 3YO filly by Justify out of Grace Hall who was a $700,000 yearling purchase and a 2YO colt by Medaglia d’Oro out of Grace Hall purchased by Mike Repole for $250,000 as a yearling, a 2YO Vino Rosso filly out of Make Merry’s stakes-producing half-sister Last Standing, a 2YO Mendelssohn colt out of another half-sister, and then Yuletide herself has a 2YO half-sister by Hard Spun with Godolphin.
All of which gives us a lot to look forward to from this pairing in 2023!
Maximus Mischief wins the G2 Remsen, earning a 97 Beyer Speed Figure
Maximus Mischief wins a 5-1/2 furlong maiden special weight first time out