When Authentic held off favourite Tiz The Law (Constitution) to win Saturday’s Gr1 Kentucky Derby, he became the first Kentucky Derby winner for his sire Into Mischief.
A son of beaten Kentucky Derby favourite Harlan’s Holiday, Into Mischief has enjoyed a meteoric rise to sire stardom, with the Gr1 Cash Call Futurity winner having started his stud career at a fee of $12 500.
Tiz The Law and Authentic battle out the big one (Pic – Churchill Downs FB)
His subsequent success can be gauged by the fact that Into Mischief, North America’s Champion Sire and Leading Sire of 2YOs in 2019, now stands for a stud fee of $175 000.
Into Mischief, a half-brother to multiple champion Beholder (Henny Hughes) and Gr1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf hero Mendelssohn (Scat Daddy) went close to enjoying a notable Derby/Oaks double with his multiple Gr1 winning Gamine finishing third in Friday’s Gr1 Kentucky Oaks.
The bay, who ran first or second in each of his six starts, is currently responsible for more than 70 stakes winners with Into Mischief’s seven G1 winners also including the Breeders’ Cup winning champion Covfefe and dual Gr1 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Goldencents.
The latter has made a pleasing start to his stud career, with Goldencents currently responsible for 19 black type horses headed by Friday’s Gr2 Alysheba Stakes winner By My Standards (the latter has four graded wins to his name and was runner up in the G1 Whitney Stakes earlier this year). Into Mischief’s fourth dam Last Bird (Sea-Bird) also ranks as the fourth dam of 2012 Kentucky Derby winner I’ll Have Another (Flower Alley).
Authentic, now a winner of five of six starts, including the G1 Haskell Stakes, was one of three graded stakes winners for Into Mischief on Saturday, with the sire also responsible for Saturday’s G2 Prioress Stakes winner Frank’s Rockette, and Gr3 Smile Sprint Stakes winner Cool Arrow. Another Into Mischief filly, Center Aisle, ran third in the Prioress.
Authentic, inbred to the 1973 Kentucky Derby winner Secretariat, is the second Storm Cat male line descendant in the past three years to have won the Kentucky Derby, with Justify (Scat Daddy) having captured the Derby in 2018 before he went on to capture the Triple Crown.
The true legend, Storm Cat
Remarkably, multiple champion sire Storm Cat appears in the pedigree of four of the first five home in the 2020 Kentucky Derby. Third home, Mr. Big News, is a son of Storm Cat’s greatest son Giant’s Causeway, while fourth, Honor A.P., and fifth, Max Player, home were both sired by Honor Code (a half-brother to Cape sire Noble Tune) -who was produced by the Storm Cat mare Serena’s Cat.
The Storm Cat male line also made its mark on Friday’s Kentucky Oaks, with the victorious Shedaresthedevil (Daredevil)’s granddam a daughter of Storm Cat’s G1 winning son Forestry, runner up Swiss Skydiver out of a daughter of Storm Cat’s grandson Johannesburg, and third place finisher being the aforementioned Gamine.
