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Instagrand is one of the 2021 freshman stallions that we’re most excited about, and he should make an excellent match for the well-bred young mare Colonel Mist.
Originally a $190,000 yearling buy before dropping the hammer for a sales-topping $1.2 million at the boutique Gulfstream 2YO sale after a :10 flat breeze (becoming Into Mischief’s first seven-figure sales horse), Instagrand earned TDN Rising Star status for his “jaw dropping” debut romp at Los Al going 5 furlongs (just missing the track record), then was even more impressive taking the G2 Best Pal Stakes over 6 furlongs at Del Mar in his second start when never asked to run but still able to finish his final quarter-mile in under 24 seconds. Put away after that until he returned with a 3rd-place finish in the one-mile G3 Gotham the next spring, which preceded a strong 3rd in the 1-1/8-mile G1 Santa Anita Derby. He retired with a (9) 2-0-3 record and $316,760 in earnings and stands is standing his first season in 2021 at Taylor Made Farm for owner Larry Best’s OXO Equine, which is supporting the horse heavily at stud (including with the dam of Eclipse Champion Sprinter Mitole). He will have every right to be among the leading freshman sires of his crop and his 2YOs should come out firing early and often.
He fits Colonel Mist specifically for a few reasons. We like that she is half to a Grade 3-placed stakes winner from the Storm Cat sire-line (like Instagrand), and that stallion (Forest Danger) actually has more in common with Into Mischief on pedigree than just that, as both also are out of mares by sons of Icecapade, and have His Majesty relatively close-up in their pedigrees, too. There is also another stakes winner by a Storm Cat-line stallion under Colonel Mist’s second dam, plus a Grade 2 winner there by Langfuhr, who is the sire of Instagrand’s broodmare sire Lawyer Ron. And Colonel Mist is also half to a winner of $64k by Harlan’s Holiday (sire of Into Mischief).
The Into Mischief/Tiznow cross rates a solid “B” on TrueNicks, having produced graded winners Mr. Money and Comical already, plus 5 more stakes-placed horses from just 28 runners.
Finally, one of the things we like best about this pairing is how well they match up physically — both Instagrand and Colonel Mist are well-balanced, well-made horses of medium size, and he should hopefully help bulk up her slightly more feminine build in their foal.
Instagrand wins the G2 Best Pal Stakes
Instagrand wins by a pole first time out at 2