High Class a fitting first-time stakes winner for Into Mischief

High Class gets her first stakes win in the $150,000 Poinsettia S. at Oaklawn Park – Coady photography

High Class’s victory in the $150,000 Poinsettia S. on Dec. 30 at Oaklawn Park marked the first stakes win for the 3-year-old daughter of Into Mischief. She is the 27th stakes winner of the year for her sire.

Her victory also pushed Into Mischief’s 2023 progeny earnings over the $26 million mark as he wraps up his fifth consecutive championship as North America’s leading sire. With a pair of stakes entries on New Year’s Eve, Into Mischief has a chance to tie his 2021 record of 29 stakes winners.

High Class, who was making her first stakes start after a pair of allowance wins at Churchill Downs, the bay filly was hustled from her inside post and got the lead from I’m the Boss of Me just inside the first quarter-mile. That pair raced as a team around the turn, then High Class shook clear coming into the stretch. Chandana arrived late on the scene, but could get no closer than a neck at the wire.

High Class finished the 5 ½-furlongs on a fast track in 1:05.72.

“I was awfully concerned getting away from the gate,” said trainer Steve Asmussen. “She didn’t break as good as she usually does from the one hole. (Jockey) Cristian (Torres) did what he needed to from the post position.”

High Class has won three straight and is 4-1-1 in nine lifetime starts, with earnings of $313,047 for Don Adam’s Courtlandt Farm. High Class was bred by SF Bloodstock and is the first foal out of the graded stakes-placed Euroboss.