As a stakes-winning son of the country’s leading sire, who also happens to be a half-brother to the sire of an Eclipse Champion, not to mention being out of a Grade 1-winning half-sister to classic winner and leading sire Empire Maker, plus his Grade 1-winning and -siring half-brother Chester House, Honest Mischief is about as exciting a stallion prospect as you’ll find. We believe he has a huge shot to be a major stallion from his base at Sequel NY (home of perennial leading NY stallion Freud, and the farm that started Laoban prior to his recent move to Kentucky on the back of a first-crop Grade 1-winning offspring).
Honest Mischief was an 8-length maiden winner in his second start, covering 7 furlongs in 1:22.43 and earning a 2 Ragozin number for owner/breeder Juddmonte Farm and trainer Chad Brown at Keeneland in April of his 3YO season. Jumped straight into Grade 1 company off that win, Honest Mischief was beaten just 3 lengths in the historic Woody Stephens Stakes at Belmont, prior to a strong 3rd in the Grade 2 Amsterdam at Saratoga. A return to Keeneland thereafter saw him take a 6-1/2 furlong allowance by 4 lengths, and then he closed out his 3YO season with a gutsy victory in the 7 furlong City of Laurel Stakes at Laurel. He returned at 4 to finish 2nd to Volatile in the Aristides Stakes off a 7-month layoff, was 2nd again next out, and then closed his career with an allowance victory at Churchill at 6-1/2 furlongs.
Honest Mischief retired with a final line of (9) 4-3-1, $287,464, and will stand his first season at stud in 2021.
In addition to a solid race record, Honest Mischief brings a remarkable pedigree to stud. His sire, Into Mischief, led the General and Juvenile Sire lists in 2019, and looks poised to repeat in 2020 — having already set a new record for progeny earnings in a season and added Kentucky Derby winner Authentic to his resume. Into Mischief also already has leading young sire Goldencents at stud, plus an arsenal full of accomplished young sons hitting breeding sheds in the last few years — but Honest Mischief’s female family trumps them all:
He is a half-brother to 3 stakes winners, including the Grade 1 winner First Defence, who has himself sired Eclipse Champion Close Hatches and 2020 Irish classic winner Siskin. His dam, Honest Lady, was a Grade 1-winning sprinter who also finished 2nd against males in both the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Sprint and Met Mile. Honest Lady is out of Grade 1 winner and Broodmare of the Year Toussaud, whose offspring include five graded stakes winners, four of them Grade 1 winners, and two of those are Belmont winner Empire Maker (sire of Grade 1 winners like Pioneerof the Nile (in turn sire of American Pharoah) and Bodemeister (sire of Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming)) and his half-brother Chester House (sire of Grade 1 winners like Ventura and Divine Park).
For those keeping score, that’s 3 incredibly successful stallions under Honest Mischief’s second dam. Combined with his own talent and his breed-shaping sire, Honest Mischief has to be as close a slam dunk for a regional market as you’ll find.
Honest Mischief wins the City of Laurel Stakes at 3