EDITED PRESS RELEASE
MORRISTON, FL—Pleasant Acres Stallions is pleased to announce the arrival of Chess Chief, the 2021 Virginia-bred Horse of the Year, champion older horse and a son of Into Mischief out of Un Blessed, by Mineshaft, who will stand in Florida for the 2024 breeding season for a $5,000 fee.
“Chess Chief is a wonderful addition to our stallion barn,” Director of Stallion Services Christine Jones said. “He was a talented athlete who beat Grade 1 winners Mucho Gusto, Long Range Toddy and twice he beat Roadster—all in graded events.”
Chess Chief is a graded-stakes winner and multiple graded stakes-placed son of Into Mischief, the four-time champion general sire who stands for $250,000 at Spendthrift Farm in Kentucky.
Chess Chief won the $99,000 Tenacious and the $400,000 New Orleans Classic (G2) and had career earnings of nearly $1 million. He placed in four graded-stakes events including the Grade 2 West Virginia Derby, Grade 3 Oklahoma Derby, Grade 3 Mineshaft and Grade 2 Alysheba.
Chess Chief is out of the Mineshaft mare Un Blessed, who is a half-sister to stakes-producer Bonnie Byerly, dam of Diabolical, a $300,000 2-year-old at Ocala Breeders’ Sales and a multiple graded-stakes winner of $1,467,401. On the board in 22 of 32 races, Diabolical won the Grade 2 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap, Grade 3 Emirates Airline Maryland Sprint Handicap and was multiple Grade 1 placed.
Chess Chief’s second dam, Plenty of Grace, was a multiple graded-stakes-winner, including the Grade 1 Yellow Ribbon Invitational and Grade 2 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup, who earned $744,499. She is a half-sister to 1999 Eclipse Award Champion Grass Mare Soaring Softly, an earner of $1,270,433 and a multiple graded-stakes winner of the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf and Grade 1 Flower Bowl Invitational Handicap.
Chess Chief joins stallions Curlin’s Honor, Gone Astray, Gunnevera, Leinster, Magic On Tap, Mutasaabeq, Neolithic, No Never No More and Sweetontheladies at the 220-acre farm located just northwest of Ocala.
For more information on Pleasant Acres Stallions, visit www.pleasantacresstallions.com or contact Christine Jones at 352-804-6618.
