WHAT was the best €1,000 spent as a bloodstock sale in 2016? There may be a few contenders for the award, but one very obvious candidate has to be David Stack of Coolagown Stud’s bid that secured Northern Mischief from the Tinnakill House Stud draft at the Goffs November Sale.

Stack was buying for his South African client Joli Racing and Northern Mischief was catalogued as a Grade 1-placed dam of a single winner, but barren to her 2016 covering by Dandy Man. Her then yearling filly by Shamardal sold for €65,000 as a foal while her then two-year-old Nathaniel filly cost €95,000 as a foal.

Furthermore, her now four-year-old Makfi son Make Mischief won in Italy, making him a second winning offspring for the mare in the ring. Stack would appear to have acquired a bargain in any case, as the now 15-year-old mare surely has a few more productive years ahead of her. However, better was to come. Hidden among the offspring of Northern Mischief at the time was her 2012 produce, a gelding by Dubawi, and he was listed as having been placed five times as a three-year-old. Two days before the sale of his dam, after a long period of 15 months off the track, North America made his UAE debut a winning one. Last weekend he brought his record there to four wins in four starts, and he collected some $120,000 for his connections with his victory in the Group 3 Firebreak Stakes

What a result for Stack and Joli Racing. Now the five-year-old North America, once a 100,000gns foal purchase by John Ferguson, could feature at a higher level and she will likely have been covered by the time you read this, being due to visit Dandy Man at Ballyhane Stud.

Northern Mischief is a daughter of Yankee Victor, and he was the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap winning son of Saint Ballado. A rig, he won or placed in a dozen of 19 races and earned $833,806. He stood at Brereton C. Jones’ Airdrie Stud before being sent to Korea in 2005 where he died just six years later. He sired some 30 stakes horses, including Dubai champion and California Grade 2 winner Kinsale King.

Winner of a pair of races and third in the Grade 1 Hollywood Starlet Stakes, Northern Mischief is a half-sister to the champion older mare Gourmet Girl, winner of a trio of Grade 1 races, namely the Apple Blossom Handicap, Milady Breeders’ Cup Handicap and the Vanity Handicap.