After wintering in Florida, Mind Control ready to begin season in Carter

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – It didn’t take trainer Gregg Sacco very long Thursday to get confirmation that keeping Mind Control in South Florida for the winter was a good idea. On his first day back in New York, a raw rainy morning, where the Belmont Park track was sloppy, a horse from another barn unseated its rider and got loose as Mind Control was jogging.

“He was jogging the wrong way when he came flying by him,” Sacco said. “Holy smokes!”

Mind Control was none the worse for the incident and looks sleek, fit, and ready to make his 5-year-old debut in Saturday’s Grade 1, $300,000 Carter Handicap at Aqueduct. Though Mind Control is a two-time Grade 1 winner at Saratoga, he is 4 for 5 at Aqueduct, all stakes wins, with one second-place finish.

Mind Control will take on Mischevious Alex and Chateau in a five-horse Carter that will go as race 6 on an 11-race card that begins at 12:50 p.m.

Mind Control was scratched from the Grade 1 Cigar Mile here on Dec. 5 due to a wet track. He shipped to Florida and two weeks later finished third in the Grade 3 Mr. Prospector – his sixth straight loss to end 2020 – before getting a break.

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Mind Control returned to Sacco’s barn at Palm Meadows on Feb. 15 and has had an uninterrupted training regimen.

“Mind Control has thrived in the winter there,” Sacco said. “Instead of some dark, dreary days, we’ve had nice days, picture-perfect weather on a nice track to train, it’s a great setting for horses in that aspect. He has thrived mentally, he’s an extremely happy horse, he looks fantastic, and has hit his marks in his works every time.”

Mind Control’s most recent race at Aqueduct came March 7, 2020, when he overcame a stumbling start and rallied from seven lengths back to win the Grade 3 Tom Fool.

Still, Sacco believes Mind Control is better when he’s involved early, which he will likely be Saturday breaking from the rail under Junior Alvarado.

“He’s going to come out of the gate running,” Sacco said.

There is other speed in the race with Chateau, last month’s Tom Fool winner, who figures to be gunning from post 4 under Kendrick Carmouche.

That could leave Mischevious Alex in the catbird seat.

An hour after Mind Control won the Tom Fool last March, Mischevious Alex won the Grade 3 Gotham going a mile here. The remainder of his 3-year-old campaign consisted of a fourth in the Grade 1 Woody Stephens at Belmont and a sixth in the Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens at Saratoga.

Transferred by his owners from John Servis to Saffie Joseph Jr., Mischevious Alex in two starts this year has won a high-caliber allowance coming from off the pace before dominating the Grade 3 Gulfstream Park Sprint after pressing the pace in a short field. Both of those races were at six furlongs.

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“I feel like at six, he’s really solid, not much out there that could test him at six,” Joseph said. “Seven is well within his reach also.”

Mischevious Alex has had three razor-sharp works since the Gulfstream Park Sprint.

“So far all has gone as good as you could,” Joseph said. “His works have been good and visually impressive and he’s doing as good as we could hope. We just need a couple of more days to go that way and we’re in with a very good chance.”

Chateau has developed into a dominant force at six furlongs, with back-to-back wins here. Trainer Rob Atras was at first hesitant to run in the Carter at seven furlongs, but the horse is doing too well to leave him in the barn, he said.

Souper Stonehenge and Shoplifted will likely be outsiders on the toteboard, but both are coming off decent efforts. Souper Stonehenge, trained by Mark Casse, was beaten a head by Zenden in the Pelican Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs. Zenden came back to win last Saturday’s Golden Shaheen in Dubai, though he did suffer a catastrophic injury just past the wire.

Shoplifted, who finished in front of Mischevious Alex in both the Woody Stephens and H. Allen Jerkens, was most recently second to Special Reserve in an Oaklawn allowance. Special Reserve came back to win another allowance with a career-high 94 Beyer Speed Figure.