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Instagrand is one of the 2021 freshman stallions that we’re most excited about, and he should be a perfect fit for the stakes-producing mare Lucky Dance.
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 his first season in 2021 at Taylor Made Farm for owner Larry Best’s OXO Equine, which plans to support the horse heavily at stud (including with the recently-purchased dam of Eclipse Champion Sprinter Mitole).
Instagrand will match up well with Lucky Dance for a couple of reason. A winner of 3 races and $46,370 during her own racing career, Lucky Dance has produced Saratoga Bob (by Friesan Fire), winner of the Maryland Million Classic and $235,962; Kaitain (by Kitalpha), winner of $229,413 while placing in a pair of stakes races; and No More Excuses (by Not For Love), winner of 14 races and $227,720 — all of whom took a little bit of time to get going. So by sending Lucky Dance to Instagrand, we hope to speed up her foal a little bit.
In addition, Lucky Dance is a half-sister to the dam of Maryland Million Distaff winner Lionhearted Lady by Lion Hearted — he a son of Storm Cat, which is the same sire-line that Instagrand traces back to.
The cross of Into Mischief with Kafwain mares has already produced Breeders’ Cup winner and likely Eclipse Champion Gamine, while taking it back further to mares from the line of Kafwain’s sire Cherokee Run, Into Mischief has a total of 3 stakes winners from just 17 foals — good for an “A++” TrueNicks rating.
Finally, physically-speaking this is a great match, too: Instagrand is a solid, powerful sort who should be very well-suited by the equally solid and powerful, if even larger, Lucky Dance.
Instagrand wins the G2 Best Pal Stakes
Instagrand wins by a pole first time out at 2
Gamine, by Into Mischief out of a Kafwain mare, wins the G1 Acorn