Mind Control getting a brief break before late-season goals

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Gregg Sacco registered his first career Grade 1 win here last summer when Mind Control upset the Hopeful, an experience he called “really special and very meaningful” at the time.

One year later, Sacco was back in the Saratoga winner’s circle Control celebrating his second Grade 1 victory after Mind Control rallied to the narrowest of victories over Hog Creek Hustle and 1-5 favorite Shancelot in the H. Allen Jerkens – an experience Sacco described as “even better” than the Hopeful.

"A lot of horses don’t improve from 2 to 3 and this horse did,” said Sacco. “And I’m so glad he was able to redeem himself from the Woody Stephens. We knew that performance wasn’t him. He stumbled at the gate and got sawed off at the quarter pole. We knew he was better than that.”

With two Grade 1 wins on the résumé, Mind Control will now get a well-deserved break before being pointed for his ultimate goal during the final third of the season, the Grade 1 Malibu in the final week of December at Santa Anita. Mind Control received a 97 Beyer Speed Figure for his effort in the Jerkens, matching his career high posted earlier this year for his victory in the Grade 3 Bay Shore.

“He’s been in training straight now for a year and one half, and it’s a testament to him he could hold his form so well over that period,” said Sacco. “He came back in great shape from this race and he’s going to get some time off. I’m not sure if he’ll go to the farm or stay in light training. We might not shut him down all the way. The Malibu is the race we’re really aiming at for the time being. We haven’t discussed any Breeders’ Cup races at this point. We’ll all sit down in about 10 days to two weeks and map something out.”

Mind Control is owned by the Brunetti family's Red Oak Stable and Sol Kumin's Madaket Stables.

Sacco was also quick to praise jockey John Velazquez for the trip he orchestrated that got Mind Control’s nose down just at the right moment to win the Allen Jerkens. Velazquez also rode Mind Control to his previous Grade 1 win in the 2018 Hopeful.

“It was Johnny’s day, he was in all-time form yesterday,” said Sacco referring to the fact that Velazquez also won the Grade 1 Travers aboard Code of Honor here Saturday, and the Grade 2 Ballston Spa on Significant Form. “He timed his move to perfection. I don’t know if any other rider could have won that race but him. He’s a master.”

Finishing third, beaten two noses, in a Grade 1 race like the Allen Jerkens would be considered a major accomplishment for most horses. But not so for Shancelot coming off his supreme effort four weeks earlier when capturing the Grade 2 Amsterdam by 12 1/2 widening lengths for which he received a sensational 121 Beyer, easily the top Figure earned by any horse in the U.S. this season.

Trainer Jorge Navarro took the disappointing result in stride, reporting from his Monmouth Park base that all was well with Shancelot the morning after the race. Shancelot set the pace from the deeper going along the inside before succumbing grudgingly and yielding to both Mind Control and Hog Creek Hustle in the final strides of the Jerkens.

“I said going into the race I was nervous about the one box because he’s a bit of a skittish horse at the gate,” Navarro explained. “And he was really bad back there yesterday. He banged himself twice in the gate and came back with a cut on his right knee. I also didn’t like being on the rail because of the way the track was playing. No doubt it was the deepest part, and I think that’s what probably got him at the end. If he went five wide at the quarter pole, we’d probably have been all right. But we learn from our mistakes.”

Navarro said it was too early to make any firm plans for Shancelot although added the Breeders’ Cup Sprint would likely be the main goal moving forward.

“I haven’t lost any faith in him because he got beat yesterday,” said Navarro. “There’s still no doubt in my mind he’s a very special horse. I hate to call any shots with him this soon, but the goal will be the Sprint, the choice we have to make is whether to give him a race in between or just take him right there.”