Champions Make Mischief, Somelikeithotbrown score in off-the-turf stakes

By Tom Law

Mark Casse wants to give Make Mischief a run on the turf. Seriously, he does. 

He said as much this week, in the days leading up to the Yaddo Handicap. He said it again Friday with 15 minutes to post for the $200,000 stakes for older New York-bred fillies and mares. 

“I really want to try her on the grass sometime, but I’ll take this,” Casse said, this being a rained-off and scratch-laden field of five going 1 mile for a $110,000 first-place check. 

Casse said it again after Make Mischief powered to an 8 1/2-length victory over Ice Princess in 1:37.63 over the muddy and sealed main track. A week removed from being crowned champion New York-bred 3-year-old filly, Make Mischief won for the seventh time in 20 starts and boosted her bankroll to $746,150 for owner Gary Barber. 

“I actually wanted to run her on the grass,” Casse said in the winner’s circle. “She worked really well on the grass. The mare is 4-for-4 to produce (winners on the grass). We’ll wait for another day.

“As soon as they said it was off-the-turf my confidence rose. I wasn’t sure how many had scratched but I knew there would be a few.”

Friday’s late-morning rainstorm moved the Yaddo to the main track and shortened it from 1 1/16 miles to 1 mile out of the Wilson Chute. Only four fillies and mares showed up in the paddock to take on Make Mischief, who went to the post 3-5 under Dylan Davis. 

Wasp, the 5-2 second choice who drew in as a main track only runner, took the early lead from Make Mischief under Flavient Prat and led through splits of :24.63 and :47.50. Davis was content to led Wasp clear from the outside, give up his inside position and stalk from the outside. 

“I broke sharp and after that I was going to take an easy lead,” Davis said. “Flavien opted to come to me early. I just let her have it. I wanted to be comfortable and she was comfortable on the outside.”

Make Mischief took the lead on the far turn with little argument from Wasp and opened up. She and Davis led by 6 in midstretch and cruised from there as Ice Princess edged Wasp for the place spot by three-quarters of a length. 

Mario and Dawn Martinez of Avanti Stable, who bred Make Mischief out of their Speightstown mare Speightful Lady, were on hand for the filly’s latest victory. 

“She’s a nice filly. It was an easy race for her,” Mario Martinez said. “After getting 3-year-old filly for New York, she’s just been doing better and better.” 

Foaled at Song Hill Thoroughbreds in Mechanicville, Make Mischief improved to 3-for-5 this season. She opened the season with an allowance win in April at Aqueduct and won the Critical Eye Handicap on Big Apple Showcase Day in May at Belmont.

Make Mischief is one five winners out of Speightful Lady, who was purchased in foal to Uncle Mo by Martinez for $75,000 at the 2013 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky winter mixed sale.

Speightful Lady delivered her first foal a few weeks later, the Uncle Mo colt later gelded and named Motown Rhythm. He was her first winner, along with $220,450-earner Speightful Kitten, the $250,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga select yearling Jody’s Song and the $115,000 Saratoga select yearling Crescent Lady. Speightful Lady is also the dam of an unraced 2-year-old filly by Union Rags named Speightful Lily, who turned in her first 3-furlong breeze in :38.66 Friday at Saratoga. She’s the dam of a Goldencents colt named Speightful Storm bred by Avanti and Song Hill born Feb. 19. She was bred to Mendelssohn in 2022.

 

Somelikeithotbrown scores first victory on dirt in West Point

Somelikeithotbrown also picked up a New York-bred championship last Friday night – his fourth – and added another stakes to his resume with a victory in the rained-off $174,000 West Point to close the stakes portion of the Showcase Day card. 

The 6-year-old son of Irish Hill and Dutchess Views Stallions’ Big Brown was voted New York-bred champion at 2 and 3 and as turf male the last two seasons and he won for the first time on dirt Friday over two opponents in the 1-mile West Point. The longest price on the board at 5-2 behind odds-on favorite and recent Evan Shipman winner Bankit and 8-5 second choice Jerry The Nipper, Somelikeithotbrown won by 6 lengths under Jose Ortiz in 1:37.68. Bankit finished second, 4 1/2 lengths ahead of Jerry The Nipper. 

Somelikeithotbrown came into the West Point with 20 of 26 starts on the grass, along with four on synthetic tracks. He’d raced just once on dirt and that run gave trainer Mike Maker plenty of confidence. 

“It [coming off the turf] didn’t bother me,” Maker said. “I knew it would be a short field. He ran fourth as a 3-year-old in the Blue Grass. A mile and an eighth was probably a bit too far for him. We figured we’d give it a shot. I talked to the ownerships and they said, ‘If you feel he’s doing well enough, let’s run.’ ”

Bred by Hot Pink Stables and Sand Dollar Stables and campaigned by Skychai Racing and David Koenig, Somelikeithotbrown won his seventh stakes in the West Point. 

“It’s been a while since he ran on the dirt,” Ortiz said. “He’s shown tremendous ability over the turf. Mike has done a tremendous job with him since he was a 2-year-old. … He’s got great form on turf and he ran good today on dirt, but it’s a three-horse race. It’s nice to know that if you’re going in on turf, and if it rains, which happens a lot, you can run on the dirt.” 

Somelikeithotbrown, a three-time graded stakes winner and multiple Grade 1-placed, earned $110,000 for the West Point and padded his bankroll to $1,316,248.

Foaled at Sequel Stallions New York in Hudson, Somelikeithotbrown is one of two New York-bred stakes winners for the Tapit mare Marilyn Monroan. She’s also the dam of Jolting Joe, who is 3-7-6 in 28 starts for $180,590 in earnings. Marilyn Monroan is also the dam of the 2-year-old Hard Spun filly Varsity Blond and a filly by Mendelssohn born Feb. 22 in Kentucky.

Source URL: https://www.nytbreeders.org/news/2022/08/26/champions-make-mischief-somelikeithotbrown-score-in-off-the-turf-stakes/

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