M. V. Magnier, bidding on behalf of Coolmore and Peter Brant's White Birch Farm, went to $1 million for an Into Mischief colt, the first yearling to reach seven figures Aug. 5 at the first session of Fasig-Tipton's The Saratoga Sale.
The colt was bred by the late Robert Lothenbach and previously sold for $650,000 at the 2024 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Winter Mixed Sale, which contained a major portion of the Lothenbach dispersal. North Ocean Equine bought the colt at the February sale and shipped him to Darby Dan Farm near Lexington. Darby Dan consigned the colt at The Saratoga Sale.
"When I got the phone call in February telling me I had to come grab the trailer and come pick up a $650,000 yearling, it was a little nerve-wracking," said Darby Dan's yearling manager Evan Thomas. "We got him back, and he was perfect since day one. The minute we put him out in a paddock after the sale, he let down. He was perfect, never had any issues with him. He was the easiest horse I ever prepped.
"We could have fed him and not walked him once, and he would have came out here and did what he did. He was an incredible horse, and we're all really pleased, all of the guys at the farm, and all of us out here, it's really exciting."
Consigned as Hip 30, the Into Mischief colt is the sixth foal out of the winning Distorted Humor mare Distorted Music. Her second foal, the Bernardini mare She Can't Sing, won the 2022 Chilukki Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs and three other black-type events for Lothenbach.
Darby Dan's sales coordinator Jake Warden said Darby Dan was involved in the decision to pinhook the Into Mischief colt, and neither Warden nor North Ocean Equine was worried about the price paid back in February.
"If he didn't go, we would have raced him," Warden said. "It was really just bring him here and see what he would bring and go from there. We're really excited we sold him. It's great."
Magnier said the colt will ship to Ashford Stud near Versailles, Ky.
"He's a very nice horse. We're bringing him back to Ashford and we'll probably leave him in America," Magnier said. "Into Mischief is a very good stallion, and this is a nice horse. He moved well. The mare was a very good horse before, and Distorted Humor is a nice broodmare sire."
Magnier pointed out that Hip 30 was bred on the exact cross as multiple grade 1 winner and current successful Ashford stallion Practical Joke .
"If he's half as good as him, we'll be in good shape," Magnier said.
Distorted Music's foal of 2022, a Tapit colt named Sandman, sold for $1.2 million at the 2024 Ocala Breeders' March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training after galloping at the under tack show for consignor Tom McCrocklin, agent for the Complete Dispersal of Lothenbach Stables. Sandman, trained by Mark Casse, ran fifth in his June 22 debut at Churchill for owners D. J. Stable, St. Elias Stable, West Point Thoroughbreds, and CJ Stables.
