ELMONT, N.Y. – Gary Barber’s multiple graded stakes-placed Make Mischief was an impressive 10 1/4-length winner of an optional claimer in her seasonal debut on April 14 at Aqueduct Racetrack for Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse after a five-month layoff. The 4-year-old Into Mischief filly will now target a start in the Grade 2, $200,000 Ruffian on May 8 at Belmont Park.
Last year, the New York-bred put together a sophomore campaign that earned her a nomination for New York-Bred Champion 3-Year-Old Filly. She started the year with wins in an optional claimer and the Maddie May at the Big A before earning two consecutive graded placings. She finished third in both the Grade 2 Eight Belles at Churchill Downs and the Grade 1 Acorn at Belmont Park where she got her nose down to secure show honors over Grade 1 winner Dayoutoftheoffice.
The bay filly went on to earn two more stakes placings in the Fleet Indian at Saratoga Race Course and the Empire Distaff Handicap at Belmont, a race she exited with an injury that led to her layoff.
Casse credited the team at his training center in Ocala, Florida with Make Mischief’s successful return.
“She’s doing great,” said Casse. “I was proud of her for a lot of reasons. She actually had a chip surgery after her last race in October. We rehabbed her at our training center and she went right from there and went up there and won. I was proud of the job they had done at our training center.”
Make Mischief earned a career-best 99 Beyer Speed Figure for her victory, an effort Casse said shows the filly’s class.
“She’s a horse we’ve been kind of high on from the beginning. She’s run some big races and if she can come back and repeat her performance she had at Aqueduct, that puts her with the big girls,” Casse said. “You always worry when you have a performance like that – especially off the long layoff – that she could possibly bounce a little or be a little flat in her next race. But we’re extremely happy with her at this point.”
Casse also mapped out plans for two promising sophomore colts in his barn. Golden Glider, who was last seen finishing fourth in the Grade 1 Blue Grass on April 9 at Keeneland, will point to a start in the Grade 3, $200,000 Peter Pan on May 14 at Belmont. Casse added that maiden special weight winner Strong Quality may also be possible for the Peter Pan.
Golden Glider, a son of Ghostzapper, was on the Kentucky Derby trail this winter and made starts in three prep races, finishing fifth in the Grade 3 Sam F. Davis and fourth in the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby, both at Tampa Bay Downs, before his effort in the Blue Grass.
The chestnut colt was a $395,000 weanling purchase at the 2019 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale.Strong Quality has been in-the-money in all three of his starts, graduating at second asking in a 1 1/16-mile maiden special weight on February 19 at Fair Grounds Race Course. He finished a close second in his first start against winners, defeated a head in an allowance optional claiming race on March 19 over the same course at the same distance.
Casse has had past success using the Peter Pan as a stepping-stone to the Belmont Stakes, sending out Sir Winston to a second-place finish in 2019 en route to a triumph in the “Test of the Champion” one month later.
“The Peter Pan has been good to us before,” Casse said, with a laugh. “So, we’re going to try it again.”
Aqueduct Press Release
Photo: NYRA Photo
