Change of Control starts season in Frederick Aime Memorial

Just Might generated a lot of year-end headlines last month, leading North America with a remarkable seven stakes wins during 2021. His stablemate Change of Control’s season wasn’t shabby, either.

Change of Control won four turf-sprint stakes – the Giant’s Causeway and Franklin County at Keeneland, the Grade 3 Intercontinental at Belmont, and the Autumn Days at Aqueduct, her most recent race – while banking more than $415,000. She failed to stay one mile in the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile but otherwise held impeccable turf form throughout the year, never finishing worse than third in nine grass starts while adapting to distances from 5 1/2 to seven furlongs.

Now 6, Change of Control makes her 2022 debut Saturday in the Frederick Aime Memorial Stakes, a Fair Grounds turf sprint with a 10-horse field stronger than one would expect in a $75,000 race.

Change of Control, who drew post 8 and will have Colby Hernandez aboard, shows only one workout, five furlongs in 1:03.40 on Jan. 10, since her Nov. 28 win in the Autumn Days, but trainer Michelle Lovell said the mare is thriving.

“I let her stretch the other day down the lane,” Lovell said, referring to a mini-breeze not sustained over enough distance to make the official work tab. “That’s what she likes.”

Change of Control only hit her peak during 2021, but it’s worth noting she’s never run a truly top race over the Fair Grounds grass course. Her record on the surface is 1-1-2 from six starts, the lone win coming in a December 2019 allowance race.

“It’s a concern, yes, but I just think she wasn’t as good then as she is now,” Lovell said.

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Last Fair Grounds season, Elle Z had Change of Control’s number, beating her in a pair of turf sprints, but it’s possible Elle Z ran too fast for her own good on Jan. 1, when she blitzed seven rivals in the Nelson Menard Memorial, another turf sprint, winning by five lengths and posting a career-best 97 Beyer Speed Figure. Elle Z, a seven-time winner from 16 starts, all for trainer Chris Hartman and M Bar O, has paired up wins before but could struggle to run right back to her Menard, especially if she’s pressed on the lead.

Brooke Marie managed to run down Elle Z and win the Pan Zareta Stakes on Dec. 4 by a head, with her connections passing the Menard to await the Aime. Drawn on the rail Saturday, Brooke Marie has lost only once in five tries at this trip, though her peak has been inferior to Change of Control’s.

The local weather forecast suggests the Aime (named for the late, great jockey agent) stays on turf, which means Euphoric, the leading dirt sprinter entered, probably can’t be competitive. Trainer Alan Sherman sends the decent Acting Out from Kentucky, while the lightly raced Drapes is in from Florida for famed Glen Hill Farm. They are nice horses that probably aren’t quite up to winning the Aime.