Deceptive, the blue hen mare owned by owner/breeder Joseph J. Perrotta, died July 17 at Glencrest Farm, where she had lived most of her life. She was 27.
The daughter of Glencrest's sire Clever Trick was bred and raced by Perrotta and trained by his father Joseph M. Perrotta. Deceptive was out of the stakes winner Subtle Wave, who was by another Glencrest stallion and homebred Wavering Monarch.
As a racehorse, Deceptive placed 11 times out of 20 starts but did not capture a win. She more than made up for her race record as a broodmare by producing six winners from seven starters, topped by multiple grade 1 winner Mizdirection and stakes winner Hurricane Bernie.
Hurricane Bernie, Deceptive's first foal by Sea of Secrets, became a stakes winner at 2 in the 2007 Canterbury Park Lassie Stakes. She also placed that year in the Mountaineer Juvenile Stakes.
Deceptive would produce two more winners before her star runner by Mizzen Mast was born in 2008. Perrotta sold Mizdirection for $85,000 at the 2009 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, where Litt Bloodstock bought her out of the Four Star Sales consignment. She next went through the 2010 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, where Solis Bloodstock bought her for $50,000.
Jason Litt and Alex Solis II started out Mizdirection with co-owners Tom Lenner, Alan Peterson, and Robert Strauss. In her second start with trainer Mike Puype, she became a winner by 11 1/2 lengths at Hollywood Park. She would go on in 2011 to win the Sandy Blue Handicap and place in two graded stakes. At 4, she won four of five starts that included the 2012 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1T) and Monrovia Stakes (G3T). She kept going at 5, winning consecutive editions of the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint and Monrovia Stakes and adding the Buena Vista Stakes (G2T) and Las Cienegas Stakes (G3T).
Mizdirection retired with an 11-4-1 record from 17 starts and $1,719,621 in earnings.
She was offered at the 2013 Fasig-Tipton The November Sale, where Al Shaqab went to $2.7 million to acquire her from the Three Chimneys Sales consignment. She is now a broodmare in France.
Deceptive's seven runners generated more than $3.2 million in gross sales at auction for their various owners and as racehorses collectively earned $2,064,425.
"We can't say enough about Mr. Perrotta and his wonderful mare," said Glencrest partner and manager John W. Greathouse III. "She was one of the nicest mares on the farm, and Mr. Perrotta has always been a wonderful Glencrest client."
