Page 48 - Speedhorse December 2019

OUTSOURCING OUTCROSSES
Robicheaux Ranch is bringing big-time Thoroughbreds to Quarter Horses
by Richard Chamberlain
It was quite the news when it broke in November: Thoroughbreds Into Mischief and Mitole are coming to American Quarter Horses. The two top-flight stallions will be available in 2020 for breeding through Robicheaux Ranch.
There’s an avenue for them. Breeding and racing the fastest horses on earth is simple, at least in principle: Put the fastest stud on the fastest mare to produce the horse that can finish fastest first.
Simple. Until any other factor comes into play. That starts with breeding, or more to the point, inbreeding. The lack of viable outcrosses in Quarter Horse racing can be an issue.
“We’ve got to get some diversification in our bloodlines, because we’re basically down to three horses: First Down Dash, Mr Jess Perry and Corona Cartel, who’s a grandson of First Down Dash,” says Ryan Robicheaux, who manages Robicheaux Ranch at Breaux Bridge, Louisiana. “When you buy a mare at the sale, you have to ask who can I breed her to? It has become a real problem. Quarter Horses have had great success with Thoroughbreds, but we haven’t found the right horses in a long time.”
Robicheaux Ranch’s lineup consists of Champions Apollitical Blood, Five Bar Cartel, Open Me A Corona and Tarzanito, as well as Champion sire Heza Fast Dash, and top 10 all- time leading sire Game Patriot. The ranch, in partnership with Spendthrift Farm at Lexington, Kentucky, is now offering two of the world’s leading Thoroughbreds, one already established as North
America’s leading sire and the other a sprinter coming off a championship season on the track.
Into Mischief ($597,080) is a Grade 1 winning son of Harlan’s Holiday out of Thor- oughbred Broodmare of the Year Leslie’s Lady ($187,014). Harlan’s Holiday is a Grade 1 win- ning sire of 95 black-type winners, six Champions and the earners of more than $86.6 million. A stakes-winning daughter of Tricky Creek, Leslie’s Lady is the dam of three Grade I winners, includ- ing 4-time Champion Beholder ($6,156,600). From eight crops of racing age, Into Mischief has sired 20 graded stakes winners, 45 black-type win- ners, five millionaires, three Champions and the earners of nearly $60 million.
Into Mischief in 2020 will stand to Thorough- bred mares for $175,000. Robicheaux Ranch will afford Quarter Horse mares breeding to Into Mis- chief with frozen semen for a fee of $10,000.
Four-time Grade 1 winner Mitole (my-toe-lee) is a son of Eskendereya out of the Indian Charlie mare Indian Miss. Bred in Kentucky by Edward Cox Jr. and owned by William and Corinne Hei- ligbrodt, Mitole was trained by Steve Asmussen, whose mother was a trainer and father a jockey. Marilyn Asmussen trained Quarter Horse Cham- pion Vespero, who Keith Asmussen rode to score in the 1978 Rainbow Futurity at Ruidoso Downs.
The 4-year-old Mitole opened his 2019 season at Oaklawn Park, where he scored in a six-furlong allowance on March 2 and the Count Fleet Sprint Handicap-G3 on April 13. He
44 SPEEDHORSE, December 2019