For $10,000, you could get an Into Mischief (but could not register for TB racing).
I don’t get it–did Spendthrift need the money that badly?
Interesting stuff. How many times is a single stallion expected to cover, either live or a dummy, in a season? 300 live cover raised eyebrows when it was first permitted in TB breeding, only possible because of veterinary advances. In nature, a stallion might run with a band of five or six mares, often fewer.
And I guess you need to teach the stallion how to mount the dummy? I don’t know if that is a skill that they need to learn. (Genuine question, I am not familiar with AI collecting.)
Edited to add, maybe breed the quarter horses mares off-season, like July through November?
The nice thing with breeding using AI, is the stud can be collected & that single collection can potentially breed multiple mares.
It’s not a 1:1 ratio like live breeding.
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Yep! They absolutely do have to teach them. A horse that’s already doing live cover would probably be easier because a lot of times it’s horses who have never bred before.
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Sprinting Thoroughbreds have been offered for QH breeding before, this isn’t really a new thing. Even Storm Cat stood to QHs at one point. So did Alydar.
Into Mischief bred 174 mares in 2023 for 143 live foals in 2024. His 2024 report of mares bred shows 193. He is not breeding 300+ a year.
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It’s not a “needs money” thing.
It’s partially interest, partially hubris.
You don’t need to use a dummy to collect for AI. You can use an AV with a jump mare. But, depending on how exuberant of a breeder he is, that is sometimes easier said than done. With a well-mannered stallion who is used to people being all around him, it’s no big thing. With horses at either end of the spectrum, aggressive breeders or shy breeders, it can be really tricky.
AFAIK, most TB racing farms don’t have the equipment for storing/shipping semen. But you can also van the stallion to any one of the numerous breeding clinics in the area and do a collection that can be frozen.
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Into Mischief has been bred by AI to Quarter Horse mares since 2020,so not breeding live cover.
I wonder how successful Storm Cat was with his get from Quarter Horses.
I think with Storm Cat at least, they offered the dismount samples to QH breeders, so he wasn’t having to do “extra work”.
With Alydar, Calumet/JT Lundy absolutely did need the money.
That’s likely what they’re doing with Into Mischief. It would make a lot more sense.
I can’t see potentially interfering with a stallion who stands for $250K’s ability to breed for the sake of a few QH foals.
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Well “ just a few QH foals” could win races with purse money up to 3 million so the idea is not really a bad one when he has produced 2 year old TBs clocked at close to 20 sec quarters. It makes sense with the right mare.
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The above poster talking about dismount samples is probably pretty close to the truth.
Racing QHs have a proud history with TB blood, such as Three Bars, Beduino, Zevi, Apollo, who were basically exclusively sires of QHs and revolutionized the breed.
But there have also been famous TBs who had some inclusion – people mentioned Alydar and Storm Cat. Storm Cat sired Stray Cat, who was a stakes winner. The Gentry family has had some great QH mares by TB studs Cuvee and Scat Daddy, among others.
Favorite Trick test sired a few QHs while he was standing to TBs, and made such an impact with them (siring a champion in a couple test horses) and being lackluster on TBs, got purchased by QH interests. He probably would’ve revolutionized QHs, except he died in a tragic accident only a couple months into his first breeding season. Despite that, he still was able to get leading sire Favorite Cartel, who is making a huge impact.
Into Mischief has only sired a few dozen QHs, and they’ve won but not lit the track on fire. One of his foals out of a top mare brought $90,000 at yearling auction (but hasn’t raced). They also offered Mitole, who is a sprinter, and that’s had about the same results.
However, I’ve been told by a lot of smart breeders that the real impact for these is the second and third generations. So you cross a TB x QH, then cross that back onto a QH, so that you have the outcross and breed back in the speed. So it’ll be more interesting to see what the Into Mischief and Mitole mares produce.
I don’t think they’re into torturing their golden-egg laying goose, they’re probably being good businessmen and also helping improve bloodlines by adding some valuable talent into a different breed.
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That pricks my ears. Nothing like a mare by the sire (who died too young) of a TC winner to deepen your gene pool.
The Gentrys have a legendary breeding program and have crossed to TBs throughout many decades.
One of their great mares is named Fodice, she herself by all-time sire First Down Dash but out of a mare by Zevi, who is a Thoroughbred who had a very useful career on QHs. They bred Fodice to TBs – Scat Daddy for a 2010 foal, but also others like Tale of the Cat, Lion Heart, Cuvee, Thunderello.
They got horses like Scatmandu, who was G1 placed, and Fovee, who was a G1 winner.
They’ve also bred to Johannesburg, Roll Hennessy Roll…well, there’s a lot of them.
Obviously Hennessy was a successful cross, he was bred to a mare named Check Her Twice to produce G1W Check Him Out (also a good sire) and GSP Masters Call, so they went to sons as well.
Dan Lucas brought in the TB mare In The Curl because she came from the same family as Aforethought, the TB who sired 2 All American Futurity winners. She has created a family dynasty that includes Ocean Runaway, Wave Carver, Uncle D…I could go on.
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