In his formative days, Into Mischief was regarded as primarily an influence for speed, a reputation that has been kept current through champion female sprinters Gamine and Covfefe .
That overlooks, however, that Into Mischief himself scored his most prestigious victory when taking the CashCall Futurity (G1) over 8 1/2 furlongs at 2, in a time less than half a second off the track record at Hollywood Park.
It also overlooks that the five-time leading sire has been represented by back-to-back Kentucky Derby (G1) winners in Horse of the Year Authentic and Mandaloun , who scored in 2020 and 2021, respectively. Now, Into Mischief has a very live candidate to give him honors as sire of three Kentucky Derby winners, a feat achieved only by Bull Lea, Virgil, and Falsetto. This is Timberlake , who marked his 2024 debut by leaping to the top of the Derby points rankings with a victory in the Rebel Stakes (G2).
Timberlake wins the 2023 Champagne Stakes at Aqueduct Racecourse
Timberlake had already established himself as one of the leaders of the generation in a five-race juvenile campaign. Beaten nearly 15 lengths over 5 1/2 furlongs at Ellis Park on his debut, Timberlake rebounded to take a seven-furlong maiden at the same venue by 9 1/4 lengths. Jumping into grade 1 company for the Hopeful Stakes (G1), Timberlake made the lead after chasing a fast early pace but was caught inside the last sixteenth by Nutella Fella , who closed from last. Ridden from further off the front-runners in the Champagne Stakes (G1), Timberlake advanced seven wide to hit the front in the stretch and drew off to score by 4 1/4 lengths. In his final outing of the year, the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1), a keyed-up Timberlake failed to settle while racing in mid-pack, finishing a distant fourth behind runaway winner Fierceness , who had finished behind Timberlake in the Champagne.
Timberlake’s pedigree has some marked similarities to that of Mandaloun. Both are out of European-raced mares, both of which were by classic winners in the United States, and both are from European turf families close up in the pedigree. Timberlake’s dam, Pin Up , is an Irish-foaled daughter of Lookin At Lucky , Eclipse Award champion at 2 and 3, at the time the first horse to achieve that feat since Spectacular Bid (since matched by Essential Quality ). Racing in England, Pin Up scored her two wins at 12 furlongs and 14 furlongs and also earned black type with a third in the 14-furlong Noel Murless Stakes.
A half sister to Thomas Chippendale, winner of the Hardwicke Stakes (G2) and King Edward VII Stakes (G2), both over 12 furlongs, Pin Up was out of another long-winded mare, the Sadler’s Wells daughter All My Loving. She never won a black-type race but took second in the Ribblesdale Stakes (G2) and Park Hill Stakes (G2), the latter at 14 furlongs, and captured third in both the English Oaks (G1) and Irish Oaks (G1). All My Loving was a sister to two other top-class runners in Yesterday and Quarter Moon. Yesterday, successful in the Irish One Thousand Guineas (G1), also ran second in three group 1 events, including the Irish Oaks (G1), and third in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1T). Quarter Moon, champion 2-year-old filly in Ireland, won the Moyglare Stud Stakes (G1) and was runner-up in the English Oaks (G1), Irish Oaks (G1), and Irish One Thousand Guineas (G1). Quarter Moon is also dam of Pretty Polly Stakes (G1) heroine Diamondsandrubies. Another sister to Yesterday and Quarter Moon, Loveisallyouneed, is dam of the Pennine Ridge Stakes (G3) winner Demarchelier , who stands at Claiborne Farm in Paris, Ky., and is represented by his first crop of 3-year-olds in 2024.
The fourth dam of Timberlake, Alruccaba—by Caro’s Prix du Jockey-Club-French Derby (G1) winner Crystal Palace—was only a minor winner, but became an exceptional tap-root mare. She produced four stakes winners, including the group scorers Last Second and Alleluia, and although foaled as recently as 1983, she is already ancestress of 57 stakes winners, among them Alpinista, victorious in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (G1) and the Leading Older Female in Europe and the World’s Best Racehorse rankings; Poule d’Essai des Poulains-French Two Thousand Guineas (G1) scorer Aussie Rules; English St. Leger (G1) winners Galileo Chrome and Eldar Eldarov; and other group 1 winners Alborada, Albanova, Allegretto, and Coronet.
Alruccaba was bred by the Aga Khan, and she traces back to an even more important Aga Khan mare—albeit one bred by the current Aga Khan’s grandfather. That is the near-legendary Mumtaz Mahal, the “Flying Filly” who just over 100 years after she was born is still regarded as perhaps the fastest of her sex ever to race in England. Mumtaz Mahal had a useful career as broodmare, producing three stakes winners, the best of which was the exceptionally fast Mirza II, but more importantly exercised a tremendous influence on the breed as granddam of North American leading sires Nasrullah and Mahmoud. She also was third dam of Royal Charger, who never headed the sires table but did start a sire line that comes down through his son Turn-to, via Hail to Reason, to Roberto, and Halo. Timberlake’s fifth dam, Allara, is inbred 4×4 to Mumtaz Mahal, and the third dam, Jude, has five crosses of that mare.
Timberlake and Chilean classic winner Joke Sisi (by Practical Joke ) are grade 1 winners by Into Mischief and sons of out Lookin at Lucky mares. There are four other stakes winners on a broader Into Mischief/Smart Strike cross, three graded, including General Jim, who took the Pat Day Mile Stakes (G2) on last year’s Kentucky Derby undercard.
