Into Mischief Extends Streak as Top Sire to Six Years

An old axiom in sports is that repeating as a title holder is the hardest thing to do. Some might argue it's hitting a round ball with a round bat, but I digress. 

We're seeing once again whether that belief holds true. In the National Football League, the Kansas City Chiefs are vying for a third consecutive Super Bowl victory. And despite having the best record in the league, most observers would say they've been more lucky than good. 

However, in horse racing, we are seeing something very different. Sure, while no horse can win the Kentucky Derby (G1) more than once, you can have a horse who is the overall leading sire by progeny earnings more than once. 

In the case of this year's leader, Into Mischief  , it's been six years running that his offspring have earned more on the track than those of any other sire. Going back to football, Into Mischief casts a Tom Brady/Bill Belichick/New England Patriots kind of aura over the field. Can he be beaten? Sure. But seeing is believing. Once he found his way to the top of the general sires list, there was no looking back.

"We're running out of superlatives," said Ned Toffey, general manager of Spendthrift Farm, where Into Mischief stands. "He's a horse who started at a very low level and showed right away that he could be a high-percentage sire, that he could get you not just a consistent number of runners, but high-end runners and then over the years, every new threshold to pass, he's achieved with flying colors"

Into Mischief has seemingly gotten better with age. The year saw him fall one runner shy of his career best (473 in 2022), fall nine winners (250) shy of a new benchmark, set a record for black-type winners with 36, a career-best for his percentage of black-type runners (7.6%), and for graded stakes winners (17). Into Mischief fell one grade 1 winner short of tying his career high of six. 

He led all sires in runners, winners, black-type winners, black-type horses, graded stakes wins, and grade 1 wins. Into Mischief also raised his record for single-year earnings by progeny with $34,553,885, more than $6 million greater than his previous best. 

A testament to the depth of his runners, Into Mischief had two millionaires in 2024. They were Laurel River , who ran three times at Meydan Racecourse, highlighted by winning the Dubai World Cup (G1), and Citizen Bull , who won two grade 1s, including the Breeders' Cup Juvenile. 

Between Citizen Bull and Barnes , whom many expect to see in the Kentucky Derby, 2025 may lead to more milestones for Into Mischief.

He stands this year for $250,000 at Spendthrift Farm near Lexington. 

Other standouts

Spendthrift had two other sires who led their class—first-crop sire Vekoma   and second-crop sire Omaha Beach  . 

Vekoma, who stands for $35,000, narrowly beat out McKinzie   for top honors with $13,539 proving the gap between them. Helping give Vekoma the advantage is tying Wildcat Heir's mark of 39 individual winners (2009) by a freshman sire.

By Candy Ride  , Vekoma's top earner was Jonathan's Way , who banked $268,530 in part to a win in the Iroquois Stakes (G3) and a second in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2).

"He made an impression as soon as those babies hit the ground. ... One of the first pinhookers at the yearling sale, saying these Vekomas just moved different," said Toffey. "Sometimes you hear those things and they pan out; they have something to do with the way the horse performs on the track. And I think that's one example where that's really been the case. The Vekomas have looked the part, and then they've performed to the part and it's made them commercial. Which is really important in today's in today's breeding world."



Meanwhile, Omaha Beach saw his daughter Caitlinhergrtness  win the King's Plate Stakes at Woodbine as part of a year in which she earned $622,712 of the sire's class-leading $7,997,193. He had several other impressive runners, including EJ Won the Cup, Kehoe Beach , and Kopion .

The son of War Front   also stands at Spendthrift this year for $35,000.

"(Into Mischief's) influence on the breed is going to be felt for generations and generations. And it's really a remarkable thing, and it's a testament to everybody involved," said Toffey.