Change of Control aces turf test in Mamzelle Stakes

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Owner Roddy Harrison saw potential in Change of Control when he claimed her for $50,000 from a maiden race at Saratoga last August. On Saturday, almost nine months later, she more than paid for herself by winning the $102,366 Mamzelle Stakes at Churchill Downs.

The stakes victory, the first of her seven-race career, came in her first race on turf, after six races on dirt. Twice she had been entered to race on turf, only to have inclement weather result in those races being moved to the main track.

She had no such setback Saturday. Though a light drizzle was falling, the Mamzelle was contested over a firm course, one that Change of Control showed she likes once she became accustomed to the footing. Last of eight early in a scratch-reduced field, she was angled out at the top of the stretch by jockey Gabriel Saez and rapidly passed foes. She caught the favored Abyssinian with a sixteenth of a mile remaining and hit the wire 1 3/4 lengths in front.

Saez, who won three races on Churchill’s 11-race card Saturday, felt his filly took a little while to get in gear. “Once she got ahold of the ground, she really responded well late and surged to the front,” he said.

A daughter of Fed Biz, Change of Control lit up the toteboard, returning $73.80 for a $2 win wager. She completed five furlongs in 56.25 seconds and earned $61,067 in victory.

“She really showed us she loved the turf today,” trainer Michelle Lovell said.

Apparently, she likes sprinting, too. A maiden victory at Fair Grounds, her only other win, came when she was cut back in distance from longer races.

Abyssinian, the 6-5 favorite following a third-place finish in the Palisades Turf Sprint last month at Keeneland, held second in the Mamzelle after dueling through fractions of 21.85 seconds and 44.53. She finished two lengths in front of Queen of Bermuda in third.