Laurel River captured the biggest prize March 30 at Meydan Racecourse and delivered $6.96 million in earnings for his sire, Into Mischief , after storming to an 8 1/2-length win in the Dubai World Cup (G1).
Spendthrift Farm's five-time leading North American sire is now ranked second on the BloodHorse general leading sires list with $12,470,831 in progeny earnings and is an arm's length behind Mineshaft , who has $12,867,549 in earnings.
Mineshaft, who stands at Lane's End, had a respectable weekend as well, with his son Senor Buscador earning $1.2 million for a third-place finish in the World Cup. The Peacock family homebred delivered a much bigger windfall Feb. 24, when he took home a $10 million winner's prize in the Saudi Cup (G1), and has earned $11,773,000 for the year.
Into Mischief has been an unstoppable juggernaut on his annual marches toward the top of the sire rankings since 2019, when he claimed his first leading sire title with more than $18.8 million in progeny earnings. He became the first North American sire to cross the $20 million single-season threshold in 2020 with more than $22.1 million in earnings and has been north of that mark ever since. The 19-year-old son of Harlan's Holiday is the leader year to date by number of Northern Hemisphere winners (75), black-type winners (nine), graded/group winners (five), and grade/group 1 winners (two).
2024 BloodHorse Leading Sires Lists
Besides Laurel River, Into Mischief's other grade 1 winner for 2024 is Santa Anita Handicap (G1) winner Newgate, who finished ninth in the World Cup.
Laurel River is a Juddmonte Farms homebred out of the Empire Maker daughter Calm Water, who never won a race but had plenty of potential as a broodmare. She is a full sister to four-time grade 1 winner Emollient and a half sister to multiple grade 1-placed stakes winner Hofburg (Tapit ) and grade 2-placed stakes winner Courtier (Pioneerof the Nile).
The cross of Into Mischief with Empire Maker daughters has been especially potent, having produced 17% stakes winners from 60 foals of racing age. This cross has also produced grade 1 winner Mandaloun and graded stakes winners Imagination, Occult, and Center Aisle. Empire Maker daughters when bred to all other sires have produced 6% stakes winners from foals.
Calumet Farm's American classic winner Oxbow also had an important weekend, with his gelded son Tuz earning $1.16 million for winning the $2 million Dubai Golden Shaheen (G1) for Dakki Stable and trainer Bhupat Seemar, who also trains Laurel River. The win raised Oxbow's year to date progeny earnings to $1,715,119 and propelled him from 137 to 31 on the general leading sires list.
Tuz, bred by Calumet, is Oxbow's first black-type winner for the year and his sixth career graded stakes winner. Oxbow is a 14-year-old son of Awesome Again who won the 2013 Preakness Stakes (G1) and was runner-up in the Belmont Stakes (G1). Tuz is the first stakes winner produced by the winning Pulpit mare Suede Shoe, who has produced four other winners.
Other North American sires whose progeny earned more than $100,000 in Dubai include Ontario's Tamarkuz (Two Rivers Over, winner of the Godolphin Mile, G2, $580,000); Firing Line (Nakatomi, third in Golden Shaheen, $200,000); Collected (Killer Connect, won Al Bastakiya Stakes, $130,704), and Dialed In (Defunded, seventh in the World Cup, $120,000).
