The race for leading father of 2-year-olds in one weekend has turned into a dogfight between Taylor Made Stallion’s handsome dad Not this time and the great sire of Spendthrift Farm In mischief who is well positioned to capture his seventh consecutive title as North America’s leading overall sire.
As of November 28, Not This Time had built a $405,338 lead by Northern Hemisphere descendants over Into Mischief. The 11-year-old son of Giant’s Causeway also topped the rankings for sires of juveniles in number of winners (36), stakes winners (7), and was tied with Three Chimneys Farm’s Rifle runner based on the number of stakes winners judged of three each. However, in one weekend, Into Mischief’s runners were able to close the profit gap to $76,319. Leading the charge were two stakes winners: Consequence who won the Starlet Stakes (G2) at Los Alamitos Race Track, And Secretly good who won the Sandpiper Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs.
As a result, a Juddmonte Farms homebred filly trained by Bob Baffert earned $120,000 for winning the Starlet Stakes, a 1 1/16 mile on the dirt. She is undefeated in two starts and has career earnings to date of $156,000.
Sneaky Good is a filly by NK Racing and LNJ Foxwoods. She earned $60,000 for winning the Sandpiper Stakes, a six-furlong race on the main track at Tampa Bay Downs. She is trained by Brad Cox and is also undefeated in two starts. She has earned $124,790 so far.
A few other major contributors to Into Mischief were Brave a colt by Grandview Equine, LNJ Foxwoods and Hubert Vester, who earned $60,374 in a 1-mile fee-level race Turfway Park for Cox; And Defector who earned $50,000 by finishing second in the Remsen Stakes (G2) at Aqueduct racecourse. If Renegade had won the Remsen and the winner’s share of $137,500, Into Mischief would have topped the leaderboard for young fathers. Renegade is owned by Robert and Lawana Low of Repole Stable and trained by Todd Pletcher. During the Dec. 5-7 races, Into Mischief runners collectively earned $314,374.
“I think it shows that Into Mischief is not resting on its laurels,” said Ned Toffey, general manager of Spendthrift. “He continues to sire new quality horses. His statistics are not from a group of older horses sitting around. I think this is just a great crop.”
Into Mischief has already earned six titles as the leading sire of two-year-olds, with his first title coming with $3,107,134 in offspring earnings for 2016 and his last title for 2022 with $4,750,989 in earnings.
Not This Time’s current hold on the title of leading father of two-year-olds is strengthened by his lead in several categories, in addition to merit. He also leads by number of winners (37), stakes winners (nine) and black-type performers (16).
However, the competition for sires of two-year-olds shows that Not This Time will not leave 2025 empty-handed, as he has taken the title of leading sire of sires with $12,662,607 in progeny. Lane’s End Spinning candy is in second place with $10,132,970. Not This Time also leads the turf sires rankings based on the number of winners (61), stakes winners (17), graded stakes winners (nine) and grade 1 stakes winners (three).
What makes the race for leading sire of two-year-olds even more intriguing is that Not This Time and Into Mischief have already surpassed the North American record winnings for the category, which was $4,980,492 by Ashford Stud’s. To justify in 2023. As of December 8, Not This Time has $5,292,216 in revenue, and Into Mischief has $5,215,897 in revenue.
Travis White, president of Taylor Made Stallions, said everyone on the farm is really hoping Not This Time can earn two leading sire titles.
“We’re trying to figure out what we have to do in the next few weeks because it’s getting really close,” White said. “Any time you compete against each other, with a stallion like Into Mischief, who has been the best stallion for a long time, you are in good company.”
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