Occult a milestone graded stakes winner for Into Mischief

Occult turned in a dominating performance in Saturday’s $250,000 Monmouth Oaks (G3), rocketing to the lead on the turn and drawing off to win by 10 ¼-lengths.

In what was the first graded stakes win for the 3-year-old daughter of Into Mischief, she became the 65th lifetime graded stakes winner for her sire.

Coming into Saturday’s race off a troubled third in the June 9 Acorn S. (G1), Occult went postward as the favorite in the 10-horse field. She bided her time near in the back half of a tightly-bunched field for five furlongs before she began to make up ground between horses. She was forced to go five-wide on the final bend, but with powerful strides, blew past the leaders and was in complete control coming into the stretch. She was all alone from that point, wrapping up the 1 1/16-miles on a fast track in 1:45.74.

“She’s a very big filly who needs time to find her stride and get into a nice rhythm. She’ll keep going all day once she gets into her stride, so stamina was never an issue with her. I saw there was some cheap speed in here, so I let them go,” said winning rider Feargal Lynch. “At the half-mile pole, I was just trying to find a way clear. Because she’s such a big striding filly, you think you’re going nowhere. But when I watch the replay, I am sure I will be impressed with the way she was moving. It’s all about rhythm and momentum with a big horse like that.”

Owned by Alpha Delta Stables LLC, Occult is 3-0-1 in six starts and has earned $327,450. The dark bay filly sold for $625,000 at the 2021 Keeneland September Yearling sale.

Occult was bred by Peter Blum Thoroughbreds. Out of Grade 2 winner Magical Feeling, she is a half-sister to stakes winners Magical and Exulting. Occult has a 2-year-old full brother named Imagination who sold for $1.05 million at Keeneland last September.