By Bloodhorse.com
OZONE PARK, N.Y. (Apr. 6, 2019) There may have been some debate about where Mind Control was headed, but the final decision proved to be a winning one.
Owned by Red Oak Stable and Madakat Stables, the grade 1-winning son of California stallion Stay Thirsty had been touted as a candidate for the two-turn Wood Memorial Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G2) or the Stonestreet Lexington Stakes (G3) as a springboard to the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1). But at the urging of Red Oak’s racing manager, Rick Sacco, Mind Control was kept at a sprint distance and responded with a 1 1/4-length victory in the seven-furlong, $250,000 Bay Shore Stakes (G3), the first of five graded stakes on the April 6 card at Aqueduct Racetrack.
“We’re overwhelmed with his performance,” trainer Greg Sacco said. “He ran the way he trained. … The one word to describe him is genuine.”
In beating Three Chimneys Farm’s Much Better, the 6-5 favorite, Mind Control confirmed his status as a premier 3-year-old sprinter, a distinction he first earned when he won the Hopeful Stakes (G1) as a 2-year-old. He won the Jerome Stakes at a mile to open 2019 and was then second in the Gotham Stakes (G3), again at a mile, March 9 at Aqueduct.
The decision to turn back to seven furlongs ended any thoughts of Mind Control running in the Kentucky Derby.
“The owners didn’t want to churn him up because of Derby fever,” Greg Sacco said.
After the homebred’s performance in the Bay Shore, Steve Brunetti of Red Oak was quite satisfied to target the seven-furlong, $400,000 Woody Stephens Stakes (G1) June 8 at Belmont Park as the colt’s next start as opposed to jumping into the Triple Crown fray in the 1 3/16-mile Preakness Stakes (G1).
“I thought keeping him at seven-eighths to a mile was the best for him at this point in time. We are certainly going to take a chance going two turns later on, but at this point, we want to keep at the middle distance,” Brunetti said. “He has a lot of talent and ability, and we want to do the right thing by our horse. The Woody Stephens is our objective. We’ll give him some time off, and he’ll be the favorite for it.”
Mind Control and jockey John Velazquez were a close third behind the pacesetting Much Better, who carved a much more realistic :45.14 half-mile as opposed to his :44.42 split in the longer Gotham when he finished fourth. In what boiled down to a two-horse race in a field of four, Mind Control edged to the front at the eighth pole and drew clear in the final sixteenth.
Final time for the seven furlongs was 1:23.45.
The victory was fourth in seven starts for Mind Control, who now has earnings of $520,900.
Much Better, ridden by Victor Espinoza for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, was second, 5 3/4 lengths ahead of Call Paul. Mucho, the runner up to Mind Control in the Hopeful, was fourth.