Champions keep coming for leading sire Into Mischief

Although Into Mischief remains in a tight battle with Not This Time in his bid to become North America’s leading sire for the eighth consecutive year, the Spendthrift Farm dynamo will join some lofty company in another respect come January.

When Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) winner Hughes officially receives the title of champion two-year-old male of 2026, as is widely expected, he will be the ninth individual U.S. champion sired by Into Mischief. That would tie Into Mischief with Bull Lea and Nasrullah, and one U.S. champion behind the 10 each sired by Bold Ruler and Mr. Prospector.

Best known for siring Horses of the Year Sovereignty and Authentic, Into Mischief’s slate of champions has tilted towards juveniles. In addition to Hughes, the list includes the recently retired Ted Noffey, Citizen Bull, and the filly Wonder Wheel. 

Into Mischief’s other champions have been the female sprinters Gamine and Covfefe and the three-year-old filly Pretty Mischievous. (Covfefe also won the three-year-old title).

Of the five stallions mentioned above, Bull Lea had far fewer two-year-old-only champions. Indeed, only his first, 1943 filly champion Durazna, qualified on that count. 

Unsurprisingly, most of Bull Lea’s champions were homebreds for Calumet Farm, where Bull Lea stood. That list encompasses Citation, Coaltown, Armed, Twilight Tear, Two Lea, Bewitch, and Real Delight. Only the aforementioned Durazna and the Alfred Vanderbilt-owned Next Move did not sport the Calumet red-and-blue devil.

The imported Nasrullah sired a quartet of two-year-old champions – Never Bend, Nadir, Nasrina, and Leallah – while standing at Claiborne Farm. But he was better known for his three-year-old and older champions like Nashua, Noor, Bald Eagle, Jaipur, and, of course, Bold Ruler.

What a father-son duo Nasrullah and fellow Claiborne resident Bold Ruler were, siring a combined 19 individual U.S. champions! Leading sire a record eight times in the 20th century, Bold Ruler is best known for getting Secretariat, Gamely, Bold Bidder, Lamb Chop and, posthumously, Wajima. However, half of his 10 champions were the Phipps family-owned juveniles Bold Lad, Queen of the Stage, Successor, Vitriolic, and Queen Empress.

Of the Claiborne-based Mr. Prospector’s 10 champions, all but two were titlists in the two-year-old or sprinting categories. His juvenile champions were Forty Niner, Rhythm, It’s In the Air, and Golden Attraction, while his sprinters were Gulch, Eillo, Gold Beauty, and Aldebaran. The other two were Horse of the Year Conquistador Cielo and the older mare Queena, the latter a one-turn specialist.

This narrow study obviously doesn’t include any of the foreign champions or highweights sired by the above quintet, and all had at least one recognized champion outside the U.S. For those that were curious, the legendary Northern Dancer sired numerous champions in Europe and Canada but only one in the U.S., when Fanfreluche shared the final pre-Eclipse Award three-year-old filly title with Office Queen in 1970.  

Also worth mentioning is that another active sire, Hill 'n' Dale's Curlin, has eight individual U.S. champions and could make continued progress up the list. His Eclipse Award-winning offspring include Vino Rosso, Idiomatic, Malathaat, Cody’s Wish, Good Magic, Stellar Wind, Elite Power, and Nest. Only Good Magic was a juvenile champion.

Given the quantity of his offspring, and the fact that there are now 11 division titles up for grabs every year, it’s hard to imagine Into Mischief not equaling or surpassing Bold Ruler and Mr. Prospector over the next several years. In what has essentially become a numbers game, Into Mischief has been playing it best.