By Bloodhorse.com
OCEANPORT, N.J. (June 18, 2022) — Hot Rod Charlie was the 1-5 favorite when they sprang the gate June 18 for the $147,500 Salvatore Mile Stakes (G3) at Monmouth Park, but he encountered an undaunted foe in Red Oak Stable and Madaket Stable’s Mind Control, a Kentucky-bred by California stallion Stay Thirsty.
The 2-1 second choice in a five-horse field, Mind Control gave Hot Rod Charlie more than he could handle in the final sixteenth of the mile test Saturday, upsetting him by a head in a photo finish.
After setting the pace under John Velazquez through a quarter in :23.60, a half in :46.66, and three-quarters in 1:11.18 with Hot Rod Charlie and Mike Smith tracking along to their outside, it looked like the 6-year-old son of Stay Thirsty would finish second as Hot Rod Charlie loomed off the turn for home. But after the two hit the head of the lane in a ding-dong battle to the wire with Hot Rod Charlie poking a nose in front, Mind Control surged back relentlessly to secure the win in a battle of the two grade 1 winners.
The final time was 1:35.79 on a fast track. Mind Control paid $6.60 to win.
Shirl’s Speight completed the trifecta, 6 1/4 lengths behind the runner-up, with Phat Man and Mohaafeth rounding out the order of finish. Confessor and Helium were scratched.
“The plan was to put him on the lead,” said Anthony Sciametta, an assistant to winning trainer Todd Pletcher. “When he shipped in this morning I spoke to Todd and Todd said to tell Johnny, ‘If he can steal it early, go ahead and do it.’ I guess he must have looked the race over. That was the plan, exactly as it happened. It was perfect.
“I thought he was beat in the lane, to be honest. But he is a very gutsy horse.”
Mind Control picked up his first win of 2022 and came into Saturday’s race off a fifth in the May 7 Churchill Downs Stakes Presented by Ford (G1) after running third in the April 9 Carter Handicap (G1) at Aqueduct Racetrack. His most recent victory was four starts back, a win in the Parx Dirt Mile Stakes in September 2021. That race, like the Salvator Mile, was around two turns.
“This was the plan, hopefully get to the lead and get a little breather,” Velazquez added. “The other horse put up a really good fight. I thought I would make the lead. Hot Rod Charlie doesn’t have that much speed and my horse is coming from a sprint. I knew if I hustled him, he would make the lead. I didn’t want to hustle him too much where I didn’t have anything left. We got a breather and when I got to the half-mile pole I kind of opened up again and he gave me a good run down the lane.
“Hot Rod Charlie actually put his head in front late, but my horse was just too game.”
Smith said Hot Rod Charlie, racing for trainer Doug O’Neill for the first time since a runner-up finish to Country Grammer in the March 26 Dubai World Cup Sponsored by Emirates Airline (G1) at Meydan, was caught flat-footed in the gate.
“We got him to stand still in the gate and he did that—he stood still,” Smith said. “I kind of missed the break. I think that’s what happened to him in Dubai, too. That’s why he was so far back there. Ability-wise I know what he is capable of, so that is the reason I am not pleased. I know what he can do, and this was not it.”
O’Neill added: “We are obviously disappointed but we’re just so proud of him getting back to the races. We’re grateful for the day and looking forward to the future.”
Mind Control, bred in Kentucky by Red Oak Stable out of the black-type winning Lightnin N Thunder mare Feel That Fire , improved his record to 10-3-5 from 26 starts with earnings of $1,561,279. The Salvatore Mile joins the 2018 Hopeful Stakes (G1), the Jerome Stakes, Bay Shore Stakes (G3), and H. Allen Jerkins Stakes (G1) in 2019, the Tom Fool Handicap (G3) and Toboggan Stakes (G3) in 2020, and the 2021 John A. Nerud Stakes (G2) and Parx Dirt Mile as the graded scores on his resume.
Feel That Fire also produced graded stakes-placed Goddess of Fire , a daughter of Mineshaft trained by Pletcher for Red Oak. Runner-up in the Rachel Alexandra Stakes Presented by Fasig-Tipton (G2) and the Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2), she last finished 11th of 14 in the May 6 Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1). The mare has a 2-year-old Candy Ride filly named White Hot Gold and produced an Uncle Mo filly Feb. 1 after coming up barren last year.