By Bloodhorse.com
OZONE PARK, N.Y. (Mar. 7, 2020) — When trainer Gregg Sacco gave Junior Alvarado a leg up on favored Mind Control in the $213,000 Tom Fool Handicap (G3), he told the veteran jockey to “ride his race.”
Midway on the final turn, Sacco was wondering what he had done.
Normally close to the pace, the multiple grade 1 winner was fifth, a little more than seven lengths off the lead.
Even when Alvarado steered to the outside for a clear run at the top of the stretch, the homebred son of California stallion Stay Thirsty was still about eight lengths behind Happy Farm, who was drawing off to what appeared to be an insurmountable lead.
That’s when Sacco heard something that made him chuckle.
“My son told me Mind Control was going to win,” Sacco said. “I just laughed off as him being young and not seeing enough races.”
Well, score one for youth.
Staging a furious and improbable rally, Red Oak Stable and Madaket Stables’ Mind Control not only caught Happy Farm, but he went by and recorded a 1 1/4-length win as the 125-pound highweight in the six-furlong stakes on the March 7 Gotham Stakes Day undercard at Aqueduct Racetrack.
“I didn’t think he’d be that far back, but he’s a special horse. He has some kick,” Sacco said. “We’ll take it one race at a time and savor this one, but it should set us up nicely for the (Carter Handicap, G1, April 4 at Aqueduct).”
Sacco said the reason for the drama in the stretch was because Mind Control ($4.80) stumbled coming out of the gate in the field of eight and was running on his wrong lead.
“He was on his wrong lead halfway down the backstretch. (Junior) didn’t want to correct him and get him discombobulated. So he switched him to his right lead midway on the backside and when he pushed him to the outside, he said he exploded. He said, ‘Wow.'”
he exploded. He said, ‘Wow.'”
The connections of Happy Farm no doubt had something much different to say. Owned by M and A Racing and trained by Jason Servis, the 6-year-old Ghostzapper gelding led by five lengths at the eighth pole before Mind Control whizzed past, covering the six furlongs in 1:10.88. Flying P Stable’s Bon Raison was two lengths back in third.
It was the seventh win out of 12 starts for the son of Red Oak’s Lightnin N Thunder mare Feel That Fire, Mind Control also owns grade 1 wins in the Hopeful Stakes and the H. Allen Jerkens Stakes. The victory pushed his earnings to $1,003,000.