Progeny of Practical Joke Coveted at Juvenile Sales

Judging by early returns in this year's 2-year-olds in training sale season, Ashford Stud stallion Practical Joke   has clearly emerged as a breakout first-crop sire with his progeny proving extremely popular with buyers in the United States and Europe.

The son of champion sire Into Mischief   has already been represented by the $750,000 Ocala Breeders' Sales March 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale topper last month and a filly who topped the Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up Sale in England during the April 13 opening session, fetching $360,000 guineas ($519,535). He had 2-year-olds from his initial crop command up to $800,000 and $500,000, respectively, March 31 at The Gulfstream Sale, Fasig-Tipton's select 2-year-olds in training sale. 

With the 2-year-old sale season in full swing, buyers will have ample opportunity to set their sights on another draft of well-regarded prospects by Practical Joke at the OBS Spring 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale April 20-23 in Ocala, Fla. His in-demand offspring have continued to inspire enthusiasm and once again touted themselves during the sale's week-long under tack preview.

Consignor Julie Davies harbors high hopes for Hip 955, a Practical Joke filly out of the graded stakes-winning Greatness mare Jenny's So Great . The speedy chestnut filly turned heads at the under tack preview, firing off a co-bullet eighth-mile in :9 4/5. She is a half sister to Patrol , a two-time winner and a $350,000 purchase by ERJ Racing and Dennis O'Neill from the Wavertree Stables consignment at the 2019 Keeneland April 2-Year-Olds in Training and Horses of Racing Age Sale.

"She is a really balanced and athletic filly," said Davies. "She has trained well all year and she has always stood out. She's been very straightforward. She is one of those horses that you wish you had a barn full of them. She is push-button and has a wonderful mind. She has done everything right."

Top Line Sales, which sold the Practical Joke filly out of Valiant Emilia , by Pegasus Wind, that topped the OBS March Sale to Japanese trainer Hideyuki Mori, as well as the $500,000 filly produced from Caribbean Lady (by Speightstown  ) to China Horse Club at The Gulfstream Sale, has three juveniles by Practical Joke on offer at OBS this week—Hips 356, 717, and 919.

"All three are a little different and not stamped as well as the other two that we sold at the previous sales," noted Top Line's Torie Gladwell. "But the common denominator with the Practical Jokes is that they all have a great hind leg, a big hip, and they are extremely intelligent horses. They are smart and are willing to do everything you ask them to do. If I had to pick one thing about them, they all have a great attitude toward training." 

Hip 356 is a filly produced from the Lemon Drop Kid   mare Unicorn Kid. The half sister to Puerto Rican champion Pure Lemon and stakes winner Crafty Unicorn breezed an eighth at the under tack preview in :10 1/5. 

"She looks more like a Lemon Drop Kid type," Gladwell said. "She has a huge walk and is a very classy filly mentally."

Hip 717 is a filly out of the stakes-placed Medaglia d'Oro   mare Devious d'Oro, a half sister to graded stakes winner Devious Intent  and stakes winner and graded stakes-placed Pioneer Spirit . She breezed an eighth in :10 4/5 at the under tack preview.

"She is a massive filly," Gladwell said. "The other Practical Jokes we've had have been average-size physically, but she is going to mature and be about 17 hands. She has that really good hind leg, a big hip, a loose walk, a good stride, and she is really smart."

Hip 919 is a chestnut colt out of the Distorted Humor   mare Hysterical. Hailing from the family of multiple grade 1 winner Tout Charmant, the colt breezed an eighth in :10 2/5.

"He is put together beautifully," Gladwell said. "He is a picture to look at."

It should come as little surprise that the offspring of Practical Joke are precocious as he was a two-time grade 1 winner as a juvenile in 2016, annexing both the Champagne (G1) and Hopeful (G1) stakes before finishing third behind Classic Empire   and Not This Time   in the Sentient Jet Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1). At 3, he won the H. Allen Jerkens Stakes (G1) and the Dwyer Stakes (G3) en route to a record of 5-2-3 from 12 starts with lifetime earnings of $1,795,800 for owners Klaravich Stables and William Lawrence and trainer Chad Brown.

Practical Joke entered stud at Coolmore America's Ashford Stud in 2018 and stands this season for a fee of $22,500. He was represented in 2020 by first-crop yearlings that sold for up to $575,000, and thus far in the 2-year-old sale season, he has had 12 juveniles sell from 17 offered for gross sales of $3,740,000—good for an average of $311,667.

"He has hit every marker on the way," said Ashford Stud's Robyn Murray. "He has had fantastic books of mares every year. His first foals sold incredibly well, his yearlings sold great, and coming into January, the word from Ocala from everyone we spoke to, it seemed like everyone had a nice one (a Practical Joke). We kept hearing how much speed they had and how precocious they looked. So, it isn't a surprise to see them selling well and topping sales here and in Europe. It's been very cool to see."

Known for his professionalism as a racehorse and now as a stallion, it is clear Practical Joke is passing on his most coveted traits.

"He's a very laid-back horse," Murray said. "From the day he arrived here he has been a consummate professional. He's very level-headed and even-tempered. He's been a busy boy since he got here. He has bred full books every year and he has always taken everything in his stride, which is what he did on the racetrack. And his progeny, from what we hear, are very much like him. They love to train and want to get on with it. They are very straightforward."

Adding to Practical Joke's achievements in the auction ring, his first starter, Tejano Twist , showed in a Keeneland maiden special weight April 18 that youngsters in his initial crop have the competitive fire to match their looks. Trained by Bret Calhoun, the Tom Durant homebred was a determined runner-up in his career debut.

"He is the type of horse that ticks all the boxes," Murray said of Practical Joke. "He was a terrific racehorse himself. He is by a stallion that can't do any wrong, and he's a terrific-looking horse. It's great to see the success he is having."