Mindframe could put it all together in Haskell

OCEANPORT, N.J. – The gang’s not all here on the Jersey Shore. Bob Baffert has trained nine Haskell Stakes winners. Even when he loses, he nearly always has a runner for Monmouth Park’s main event. When Bob’s away, Todd can play, or so it appears this Haskell Day – though Danny and Brad can have a say.

Trainer Todd Pletcher hasn’t won the Grade 1, $1 million race since 2013 but entered three this year, and while Fierceness probably stays home at Saratoga to race in the Jim Dandy Stakes, Pletcher’s duo of likely favorite Mindframe and capable Tuscan Sky gives him a strong chance for his first Haskell since Verrazano tallied 11 years ago.

The Monmouth morning line lists Mindframe as the 9-5 favorite over the Danny Gargan-trained Dornoch at 5-2, that despite the fact Dornoch six weeks ago defeated Mindframe by a half-length in the Belmont Stakes at Saratoga.

Lurking at a longer price – Timberlake, whom trainer Brad Cox, winner of the Haskell in 2021-22, expects to return roaring from a layoff approaching four months. Timberlake, once a leading Kentucky Derby candidate, clunked home a well-beaten fourth March 30 in the Arkansas Derby.

“That race obviously wasn’t what we were looking for. He needed a freshening, and he got it,” Cox said.

Eight were entered in the 1 1/8-mile Haskell, a Win and You're In qualifier for the Breeders' Cup Classic, though Pletcher said Fierceness serves as Mindframe’s understudy and runs only if something prevents Mindframe from running.

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Jasper’s Pride, cross-entered in the Jersey Shore on Friday, and Just Step On It were supplemented into the race when it was drawn Wednesday, though it’s difficult imagining connections of either horse – whose only plausible impact is getting in the way – putting up a $25,000 supplementary entry fee.

Mike Repole’s Repole Stable and Vincent Viola’s St. Elias Stable put up $600,000 to purchase Mindframe at Keeneland’s 2022 September yearling sale. They stand on the cusp of owning a horse worth millions as a stallion. Mindframe, by Constitution, went into serious training during the summer of his 2-year-old season but suffered a relatively minor injury that cost him a few months of training. By the time he was ready to race, March nearly had turned to April, much too late to accumulate qualifying points to make the Kentucky Derby.

Mindframe looked like a Derby-quality colt winning his debut by more than 13 lengths with a 103 Beyer Speed Figure – higher than the 100 Mystik Dan posted winning the Derby. Mindframe did race on Derby Day at Churchill, making his second start in a two-turn, first-level allowance, where Mindframe showed he had a mind to match his imposing physical presence, rating kindly on a slow pace under Irad Ortiz Jr., running his second half-mile much faster than his first while romping again. Ortiz said he wrapped up on the colt, wondering if Mindframe might come back two weeks later in the Preakness.

“I woke him up at the quarter pole, then I wrapped up on him early in the stretch,” Ortiz said. “I told Todd that I saved a lot of horse, just in case.”

Mindframe’s connections skipped the Preakness and awaited the Belmont, a test Mindframe both passed and failed.

Pletcher said Mindframe might buck and play at times but otherwise comports himself with a laid-back, responsive demeanor, and until midstretch in the Belmont, he’d never done anything wrong. Dornoch, pressing Seize the Grey’s strong pace, had taken a lead into the homestretch, but Mindframe, after stalking the pace, had made a big move around the far turn.

“I got to Dornoch without hitting my horse,” Ortiz said. “I hit him once, and he responded well. I went to hit him again, just to go by, and he reacted.”

Mindframe jinked left, losing focus, losing momentum, losing the lead, and, despite Ortiz correcting his mount within a few strides, losing the Belmont by a half-length. An agonizing defeat for Mindframe’s connections and backers; a grand performance after two easy wins.

“He had to run that time. We were running since the break and we finished running,” Ortiz said.

Mindframe, Pletcher said, bounced out of the Belmont unbothered by the experience, posting three timed workouts for the Haskell, the last a half-mile in 49.40 seconds last weekend.

“We tried not to let him do too much the other day. It looked like he was in an open gallop,” Pletcher said.

Dornoch’s connections would dispute the idea Mindframe was the best Belmont horse, focusing on the fact Dornoch came back to win after being headed in upper stretch. Gargan said Dornoch suffered from a consequential case of skin disease going into the Belmont, and that a quarter crack nagging him since the Fountain of Youth Stakes in early March has improved considerably through the summer.

“He looks better now physically than he did in the Belmont, and he’s probably sounder foot-wise than he’s been all year,” Gargan said. “He’s been switching his leads right on cue. As long as he changes his leads, he’ll run right back to his last race.”

Gargan blames himself for Dornoch’s defeat in the Blue Grass Stakes, an experiment in rating off the pace, and the colt had no chance in the Derby after pulling a terrible trip from post 1.

“This horse is a big-time horse. We’ve had an excuse every time we’ve run bad,” Gargan said.

Dornoch and Luis Saez break from the rail again Saturday, a post Gargan doesn’t love, though Dornoch, with a good break, could wind up on the lead. Alternatively, Sea Streak, winner of the Long Branch Stakes here May 11 but well beaten after a poor start and a wide trip in the June 15 Pegasus, could show speed from an outside draw. Tuscan Sky won the Pegasus despite a tricky rail trip, racing inside four other pace players stacked to his outside, showing good speed in his first start with blinkers while rebounding from a Wood Memorial dud.

“The Wood was kind of a head-scratcher for us – he never had anything from the start,” Pletcher said. The Pegasus “was a strangely run race, and he did it well. He’s a horse we’ve thought always had the ability.”

Timberlake clearly possesses high-level ability but has three disappointing performances standing alongside four strong ones, including victory in the Grade 1 Champagne last fall. Cox, while declining to get specific, gives Timberlake a strong excuse for his flat Arkansas Derby run and said the colt has breezed with verve for his comeback.

“He’s a very good work horse and he had a big work the week before last,” Cox said.

Sounder of body, Timberlake – and the others – may be running into a monster named Mindframe.

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