Honest Mischief’s Braverthanubelieve wins NYSS Fifth Avenue
Braverthanubelieve showed all the signs of potential last summer, most notably to brothers John and Daniel Ortiz with a big work in early August at Saratoga Race Course.
The daughter of Honest Mischief breezed twice at Saratoga for the Ortiz brothers and owner Tristar Farm but didn’t get a chance to show her talents at the NYRA circuit’s most important meet after going to the sidelines with a minor illness.
Braverthanubelieve did make the races in late November and by early December, with a victory in Saturday’s $500,000 Fifth Avenue division of the New York Stallion Series Stakes, showed she’ll be a player in the New York-bred filly ranks going forward. Ridden by Joel Rosario, Braverthanubelieve improved to 2-for-2 with her 1 1/4-length win over 3-2 favorite Hot Currency in the Fifth Avenue.
“We believed this filly was very special from the beginning,” said John Ortiz, who trains filly with his brother and assistant overseeing her conditioning in New York. “She came to us at Saratoga and gave us a workout that we knew was not just a New York-bred, this was a competitive racehorse. She did get sick on us. We gave her the right time, brought her back correctly. She jumped right back into training like she never missed anything.”
Braverthanubelieve, 8-1 in the field of 11, closed on dueling leaders Hot Currency and Daniella Marie through the stretch to collect $275,000.
“She ran one time and won and [it] looked like the way she did it, she did it the right way,” Rosario said. “She has some talent. … She actually moved really well. We were just waiting for the right time [to make a move] and I had to kind of get after her a bit. The other couple kept moving in front, but the whole time, it looked like I had horse. She ran a big race.”
Braverthanubelieve won her debut November 22 racing just off the lead early before digging in gam in the stretch to win at 6 furlongs on a sloppy track. Stretched out to 7 furlongs in the Fifth Avenue, Braverthanubelieve closed from fifth after a quarter-mile and fourth after a half. Braverthanubelieve rolled through the stretch to win in 1:23.92, validating her connections’ high opinion and delivering on a plan that started not long after she bounced back from her illness.
“I told Mr. Glenn (Lostritto of Tristar Farm) that we should just point to this race,” Ortiz said. “That’s how high I thought about her. As good as she was training, I was like, ‘let’s go to the maiden, win, lose or draw, we were going to come here anyways.’ This was marked, planned and well-executed.”
Hot Currency finished second in the Fifth Avenue, 3 1/4 lengths ahead of Daniella Marie in third with Unmiztaken fourth. Fancy Lights, Lifeisbutadream, Kaz Farm Girl, Greyjoy, Oh and Galileans Girl completed the field.
Bred by Paul Michael Giacopelli MD, Braverthanubelieve is the third foal out of the winning New York-bred Teuflesberg mare Hundred Acre Wood.
Hundred Acre Wood won four of 22 starts and earned $179,026 for Giacopelli from 2012 to 2015. She’s out of the Tactical Advantage mare True Advantage, who Giacopelli bought for $22,000 at the 1999 OBS April sale of 2-year-olds in training.
Hundred Acre Wood’s first foal, the New York-bred Bayern mare Pot of Hunny, won once in five starts. She’s also the dam of the 3-year-old New York-bred Lookin At Lucky colt Lucky Dragon, who is entered in a maiden race Sunday at Aqueduct, and a yearling New York-bred colt by Maximum Security.
Braverthanubelieve is the eighth stakes winner sired by Honest Mischief, a 9-year-old son of Into Mischief out of the Grade 1-winning Seattle Slew mare Honest Lady who stands for $7,500 at Sequel Stallions New York in Hudson. New York’s leading freshman sire in 2025, Honest Mischief came into Saturday ranked sixth on this year’s general sire list in the Empire State.