Observations from the 2019 Springboard Mile Card

An exciting closing day of racing at Remington Park on Sunday saw multiple milestones passed by both humans and horses during the six stakes on the card. From Steve Asmussen becoming the all-time leading trainer at Remington Park to Into Mischief siring a double on the card, here are seven observations from the Springboard Mile card.

Into Mischief – Spendthrift Farm's Into Mischief (Harlan’s Holiday) is only a few weeks away from being crowned Champion Sire for the first time and he continued to add to that resume on Sunday at Remington Park. Cowboy Mischief kicked off the stakes success when he won the Jim Thorpe Stakes one race before Shoplifted won the Springboard Mile. They were on different ends of the commercial spectrum with Cowboy Mischief a homebred for his connections and Shoplifted selling for $800,000 earlier this year at a 2-year-old sale (and selling for $525,000 as a yearling). The two runners were conceived when Into Mischief stood at $30,000 and $45,000, respectively, so it can be expected that Into Mischief will have even better results in coming years.

Cowboy Mischief winning the Jim Thorpe Stakes

Homebreds – Homebred racing programs made a lot of noise in the stakes on Sunday’s card with 10 of the 18 horses (55.55 percent) in the top three racing for their breeders or entities owned by their breeders. Being a homebred was the secret to winning in the first four stakes races of the day with those sold at an auction not winning a race until the Springboard Mile. Two of those homebred winners included a daughter of multiple Grade 1 winner Love And Pride (A.P. Indy) and Grade 2 winner Magical Feeling (Empire Maker).

Both two-year-old fillies in this photo are homebreds.

A.P. Indy Line– It’s no surprise that the A.P. Indy line continues to be successful but it is a bit surprising how dominant it was on Sunday. The top three placers in the Listed Trapeze Stakes for 2-year-old fillies were all produced by mares by A.P. Indy or his sons while grandson Tapit sired the She’s All In Stakes winner and Malibu Moon sired the second place horse there. A.P. Indy grandson Dialed In (Mineshaft) is also the sire of Springboard Mile second Answer In.

A.P. Indy in November 2019 at 30-years-old

WinStar Stablemates – WinStar Stablemates had two WinStar homebreds entered in the Trapeze Stakes with those horses finishing second and third. Not surprisingly, the two fillies are well-bred with second placed Caribbean Sea (Hard Spun) out of Grade 1 placed Sea Island (a full sister to Grade 2 winner Sightseeing from the family of With Distinction). Third placed Best Intentions (Curlin) is out of Grade 2-placed Centrique (Malibu Moon) and comes from the extended family of Grade 1 winners Nereid (Rock Hard Ten) and Honey Ryder (Lasting Approval).

Caribbean Sea finished second for the Stablemates in the Trapeze Stakes.

Yes It’s True – The late Yes It’s True (Is It True) had runners out of two of his daughters in the Springboard Mile and had a son in the Jim Thorpe Stakes. Of those three stakes runners, his son Fast Break Cash finished second in the Listed Jim Thorpe Stakes as a homebred for C.R. Trout (one of two homebred stakes placers for him that day) while his daughter Shopit is the dam of Springboard Mile winner Shoplifted. Yes It’s True is proving to be an important broodmare sire with his daughters producing 33 stakes winners so far, including Grade 1 winner Complexity.

Springboard Mile winner Shoplifted (outside) is out of a Yes It's True mare

Steve Asmussen – Steve Asmussen isn’t afraid to fill the card at Remington and Sunday was no different. The trainer had 19 horses entered on the card with 11 in the stakes races. Of those 11, he trained the trifecta in the Trapeze Stakes, the exacta in the She’s All In, and the winner of the Springboard Mile. The trainer also hit a major milestone when Magical’s (Tapit) win in the She’s All In made him the winningest trainer in Remington Park history with 1,051 wins at the track. The trainer also secured his 15^th Remington Park trainer’s title, the fourth consecutive leading trainer title he’s taken home from the track.

A great night was made even better for Steve Asmussen when hitting a major milestone at the track.

Tapit – Magical’s win in the She’s All In Stakes provided Asmussen with his record-breaking win and it also helped her own sire hit a milestone. Magical’s first ever stakes win on Sunday took Tapit to $150,063,321 in lifetime Northern Hemisphere earnings, the third most ever of any North American-based stallion. Magical was one of three horses Tapit had in stakes over the weekend with his daughter Pink Sands also winning the Grade 3 Rampart Stakes and the three horses (the third being Magical's full brother) combining to earn $124,660 for the weekend. One of only three North American-based sires to hit the $150 million mark, he is a little over $1.6 million behind Smart Strike while Giant’s Causeway leads the list at $166,542,927. Tapit is the only active sire in the top five by lifetime progeny earnings on the list.

Tapit