Honest Mischief Makes a Splash in Keeneland Maiden Race
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Photo: Anne M. Eberhardt
Honest Mischief breaks his maiden at Keeneland
The second time proved to be the charm for Juddmonte Farms' homebred Honest Mischief, who made quick work of a $79,000 maiden special weight April 6 at Keeneland.
Out of the grade 1-winning Seattle Slew mare Honest Lady, the colt is a half brother to Forego Handicap (G1) winner and sire First Defence.
With Hall of Famer Javier Castellano in the irons for trainer Chad Brown in Saturday's seven-furlong event, the 3-year-old son of Into Mischief tracked the paced three deep in the field of 12 as Island Song took the lead from the gate.
On the front through the half-mile in :45.39, Island Song weakened and began to drop back, allowing Honest Mischief room to get up and challenge at the five-sixteenths pole.
Twelfth Labour split rivals and cut up the middle of the pack but was unable to catch Honest Mischief, who steadily widened his lead to eight lengths at the wire.
Final time for the race was 1:22.43. Twelfth Labour finished second, followed by Ry's the Guy in third.
"Chad said he has been training just the way he should," said Dr. John "Doc" Chandler of Juddmonte. "So he was very confident. It's nice to have a horse like that."
Honest Mischief finished second on debut Feb. 2 at Gulfstream Park.
"Chad likes this horse very much," Chandler said. "Obviously, he's extremely well-bred, and he's been training like he should. It was great.
"(Honest Lady) was a very good mare herself, besides First Defence. She was beaten by a nose in the Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) by Kona Gold. She's one of our greats, so we were very pleased."
Honest Lady foaled a Noble Mission (GB) filly named Annual in 2017 and has not been bred back.
The sire of champion mare Close Hatches, First Defence stood at Juddmonte in Kentucky until 2016, when he was sold to Haif Stud in Saudi Arabia. The stallion continues to be well-represented by his progeny in North America. Close Hatches' first foal, Tacitus, ranked ninth on the 2019 Kentucky Derby leaderboard entering Saturday.