Pretty Mischievous (Coady Photography)
NYRA Press Office
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.— Godolphin’s 3-year-old filly division leader Pretty Mischievous, who passed the wire first in Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Test, has exited her race well, per trainer Brendan Walsh.
The daughter of Into Mischief added a third top-level tally to her Kentucky Oaks and Acorn wins in May and June, respectively. She also joined her dam Pretty City Dancer, who annexed the 2016 Spinaway, as a Saratoga seven-furlong Grade 1 winner.
In the Test, the bay filly was closing on the far outside, while pace-setter Maple Leaf Mel asserted herself as the likely victress in front. Yards from the wire, when Maple Leaf Mel went down, Pretty Mischievous wrested a would-be second from Clearly Unhinged. Pretty Mischievous and jockey Tyler Gaffalione ultimately won by a head, with 1¾ lengths back to Munnys Gold in third.
“She’s fine, she ate up good and has been eating peppermints all morning here, hanging over the door,” Walsh said. “She ran well yesterday, but it was just a little sharp for her, though she beat some very good fillies. The filly that broke down was the best of the day, but we’re proud of the effort ours gave. That’s her putting in her A-effort, like she always does. She always leaves it all out there and we can’t ask for more than that. I didn’t realize how much she really did close. It just goes to show how good a filly she is to give as good an effort as she did.”
Walsh said he did not have any immediate plans for Pretty Mischievous, but noted it was likely to include a step up in distance.
“We’ll probably go back to the two turns after that. We’re not really leaning anywhere yet, as far as her next race,” Walsh said. “I would say two turns is definite and the Cotillion would be the one that you would think would be the place to go—but I haven’t discussed with the team, so nothing has been decided. She’s won three Grade 1s—or two and a half—and a Grade 2. There’s no one else who’s done that.”
Pretty Mischievous, a Kentucky homebred, sports a record of 9-7-1-1 for purse earnings of $1,756,560.
