Honest Mischief’s Mischief Lady and Friend Ofthe Devil Dominate in N.Y.S.S. Divisions
MISCHIEF LADY and FRIEND OFTHE DEVIL – first-crop 3-year-olds by HONEST MISCHIEF – swept the New York Stallion Stakes’ Cupecoy’s Joy and Spectacular Bid divisions at Belmont at the Big A on June 14 and 21 respectively, becoming the first offspring of one sire to win both divisions in a dozen years. Both were favored in their six-furlong contests for New York-sired 3-year-olds bred anywhere, and both won decisively.
Mischief Lady, owned by Paddock Proud LLC and bred by Chester and Mary R. Broman, completed a 1-2 exacta for Honest Mischief fillies in the Cupecoy’s Joy, which was switched from turf to the sloppy main track. An allowance winner on fast Aqueduct dirt in her latest previous outing in January and a stakes runner-up as a 2-year-old in the slop while still a maiden, Mischief Lady led throughout in the Cupecoy’s Joy under jockey Ricardo Santana Jr., winning by 2 1/2 lengths in a stakes-caliber 1:09.65. Santana was impressed in his first ride aboard Mischief Lady: “Even coming from a layoff, she broke really sharp, and she was really comfortable on the lead. I was really happy with her.”
Trainer Edward Barker confirmed that Mischief Lady “has been training awesome…and she grew like a monster” (following her juvenile season). Mischief Lady is the first offspring produced from her unraced dam.
Friend Ofthe Devil, now three-for-three on turf, was heavily odds-on for the Spectacular Bid despite being top-weighted and the youngest by far (May foal; only starter foaled later than March) among the five starters. His four-length score in a stakes record 1:07.41 was only about a half-second off the 2024 course record set by a multiple turf sprint stakes-winning 5-year-old carrying two pounds less weight in a close finish. Fifty-seven days earlier on the same course, Friend Ofthe Devil had won a six-furlong allowance by 3 1/2 lengths over a favored 4-year-old runner-up (a former $225,000 sales 2-year-old) in 1:07.31. He has been ridden in his three wins by Christopher Elliott. He is his unraced dam’s first stakes winner.
Bred by Laurel Least, Farview Farm LLC and Robert M. Tugel DVM, Friend Ofthe Devil races in partnership with Jerold L. Zaro for Blue Devil Racing Stable (Marc Holliday), which had purchased the colt for $145,000 at Fasig-Tipton’s 2023 Saratoga sale of preferred New York-bred yearlings. Holliday praised Honest Mischief (“he has some very nice horses out there”), and trainer Carlos Martin was impressed with how easily Friend Ofthe Devil handled accelerating splits (21.98, 21.94) while running the opening half-mile in 43.92. “He doesn’t look like he’s going 43 and four; he looks like he’s going 47 and four,” Martin observed. “He’s just got that natural speed,” continued Martin, who expressed confidence that Friend Ofthe Devil could successfully stretch out to a mile.
Six days after Friend Ofthe Devil’s stakes record-shattering romp, another Honest Mischief first-crop 3-year-old, ROOFER, went gate-to-wire to win a $80,000 six-furlong maiden special at Belmont/Big A by 3 3/4 lengths on Friday, June 27, clocking 1:09.36. A $110,000 purchase by Richard Greeley at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales (OBS) Company’s June 2024 sale of 2-year-olds and horses of racing age, where he had worked a furlong in 9 4/5 seconds, Roofer was top-weighted among seven starters because his rider was a pound overweight. Futilely pursuing in second place was the 1-2 (.45-to-1) favorite, a son of a current top-five North American sire standing for $100,000 in Kentucky and former $380,000 sales yearling. Roofer’s winning time generated a 94 Equibase speed figure, which was higher even than the figure attributed to Friend Ofthe Devil’s stakes record-setting clocking on turf.
Trained by Mitchell Friedman, Roofer is the fourth offspring, fourth starter, and third winner produced from his unplaced dam and is her only non-claiming winner on the NYRA circuit. The speedy bay colt was bred by Robert Harris, who had consigned him to the OBS sale through Harris Training Center LLC, agent.