Control Stake tries to extend trainer's hot hand
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Phil Bauer did something this winter that went out of practice a half-century ago among the vast majority of North American horsemen: He didn’t run a horse for 3 1/2 months.
“We went to Payson Park in Florida and hit the reset button,” said Bauer, who trains privately for the Rigney Racing of Louisville businessman Richard Rigney. “We’d been spinning our wheels, trying to please the racetracks and maybe running horses where they didn’t belong. We thought this move would be something to benefit us for the rest of the year.”
Bauer rested his stable from Nov. 26, when two of his horses ran at Churchill Downs, to March 11, when Like a Hurricane ran in the Florida Oaks at Tampa Bay Downs. The initial results were somewhat predictable – his first 11 starters all lost – but things are humming now. Bauer has won with 5 of his first 19 starters at the Churchill meet, including 3 of his last 5. Those winners were Bernadreamy, Mighty Mad, Mistake Present, Like a Hurricane, and No More Babies.
“It took a little bit for the bus to get going, but now we’ve got fresh horses and some conditions that favor us,” said Bauer, a 32-year-old father of three.
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On Friday at Churchill, Bauer will send out Control Stake as one of 12 older horses entered in the only allowance on a nine-race card. First post is 12:45 p.m. Eastern, with the eighth-race feature – a $57,500 second-level turf sprint without a clear-cut favorite – set for 4:19.
Control Stake, a 5-year-old Florida-bred gelding, finished second in back-to-back allowances upon returning from a 10-month layoff in April. He was claimed last June for $50,000 and is one of nine in the Friday feature entered for a $62,500 claiming option.
Control Stake finished fifth, beaten 3 1/4 lengths, last out in a similar spot in his first race on turf.
“The five-furlong distance is right up his alley,” said Bauer. “Whether the grass is his thing, that’s still to be determined. But he ran pretty good last out.”
Bauer pointed out that the winner of Control Stake’s last race, Forgive, returned to win the Mighty Beau at Churchill.
“You like to see horses that beat you go on to do well,” he said.
Control Stake will have Gabriel Saez aboard when he breaks from the hedge in a race that also has Maniacal and Shadow Rock as major contenders. Only as many as 10 will start, with Nifty Fifty an also-eligible and Manhattan Mischief a main-track-only designate.