Photo:

Justin Manning / Eclipse Sportswire

Timberlake, winner of the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes at 2 and a millionaire son of perennial leading sire Into Mischief, will stand the upcoming breeding season at WinStar Farm. Timberlake joins Practical Joke as the only other son of Into Mischief standing in Kentucky to win a Grade 1 as a 2-year-old. Timberlake will stand for $20,000 standing and nursing.

“Being an attractive and imposing son of top sire Into Mischief, Timberlake showed tremendous precocity in winning the G1 Champagne and being second in the G1 Hopeful at 2,” said David Hanley, senior vice president, bloodstock services for WinStar Farm. “With his exceptional physical and his unique depth of pedigree, we look forward to standing him here at WinStar.”

Campaigned by Siena Farm and WinStar Farm, Timberlake burst onto the scene in the summer of his 2-year-old season. In winning a 9 1/4-length maiden special weight at Ellis Park, defeating a strong field, Timberlake ran seven furlongs in 1:23.38, earning an 87 Beyer Speed Figure from Daily Racing Form in his second start. His final clocking was faster than both 2-year-old stakes run at the distance at Ellis Park on the day.

In the Champagne, a race won in recent renewals by such leading sires as Uncle Mo, the late Scat Daddy, Practical Joke and Complexity and a Breeders’ Cup Juvenile qualifier, Timberlake joined the ranks of the race’s impressive list of winners. In a powerful performance, Timberlake took command with a furlong remaining, drew away with authority in the final sixteenth and went on to score by 4 1/4 lengths. Timberlake completed the one-mile distance in 1:35.90 over a sloppy and sealed track, earning a 93 Beyer, higher than Tiz the Law and Practical Joke. Finishing well behind Timberlake in the Champagne was prohibitive favorite Fierceness, the eventual champion 2-year-old male.

Making his seasonal debut at 3 this year, Timberlake won the Rebel (G2). Timberlake raced in the second flight early in the 1 1/16-mile test. He ranged up four wide around the far turn, hit the front in the stretch and rolled to a two-length victory over 11 rivals. In addition to his stakes wins, Timberlake finished a close second in the Hopeful (G1) after leading in the stretch and was third in the Haskell (G1) this year behind leading 3-year-old and two-time Grade 1 winner Dornoch. All told, Timberlake won or placed in 5-of-9 career starts, including three Grade 1s, for trainer Brad Cox while banking $1,303,100.

A $350,000 acquisition from the 2022 Keeneland September sale, Timberlake was bred in Kentucky by Vincent and Teresa Viola’s St. Elias Stables. He hails from a prolific female family. He is produced from the stakes-placed Lookin At Lucky mare Pin Up, a half-sister to Thomas Chippendale, a two-time Group 2 winner going 1 1/2 miles. Timberlake’s second dam, All My Loving, was Group 1-placed, and other prominent members of the family include Group 1 winner and Irish champion Quarter Moon, Group 1 winners Yesterday and Diamondsandrubies.

“Timberlake hails from a hugely productive European family that traces to Mumtaz Mahal, the great foundation mare for the Aga Khan’s breeding operation,” Hanley said. “Her daughter, Mumtaz Begum, is the dam of Nasrullah, who Claiborne brought to America from England in 1950. From the Nasrullah sire line came Grey Sovereign, Bold Ruler, Secretariat, Spectacular Bid, Seattle Slew, A.P. Indy and Nashua, who is also the broodmare sire of Mr. Prospector and Roberto. Out of another daughter, Mah Mahal, came Mahmoud, and Northern Dancer’s dam, Natalma, is a granddaughter of Mahmoud.”