Mischevious Alex pulls away for first Grade 1 score in Carter Handicap

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – When owners Chuck Zacney and Glenn Bennett sent Mischevious Alex to trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. late last year, the goal was to make the 4-year-old son of Into Mischief a Grade 1 winner.

That goal was achieved in brilliant fashion Saturday at Aqueduct as Mischevious Alex rolled by pacesetting Chateau just outside the eighth pole and drew clear to a 5 1/2-length victory in the Grade 1, $300,000 Carter Handicap at Aqueduct.

Mind Control, a two-time Grade 1 winner, rallied for second, a length over Souper Stonehenge. It was a head back to Chateau. Shoplifted finished last.

It was the second graded stakes win of the day at Aqueduct for Joseph, who also won the Grade 3 Bay Shore with Drain the Clock. Irad Ortiz Jr. rode both winners.

“Drain the Clock was a relief, but then you still need this one,” Joseph said from Florida where he watched the races on television. “This makes the day fulfilled.”

Mischevious Alex, who won the Grade 3 Gotham here for trainer John Servis a year ago, ended his 3-year-old year with a pair of losses in a pair of Grade 1 stakes. The horse was given the remainder of the year off and then sent to Joseph in December.

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Mischevious Alex responded with a fast allowance win on Jan. 10 and a solid victory in the Grade 3 Gulfstream Park Sprint on Feb. 12 to set him up for the Carter.

Though he broke sharp in the Carter, Mischevious Alex dropped four lengths back as Chateau, the Grade 3 Tom Fool winner, ran fractions of 23.09 seconds for the quarter and 45.89 for the half under Kendrick Carmouche.

Ortiz had Mischevious Alex four wide down the backside and then entering the far turn tucked him into the three-path while keeping Mind Control, under Junior Alvarado, boxed in along the rail.

Approaching the top of the lane, Ortiz swung Mischevious Alex four wide and he powered past Chateau at the eighth pole, and despite drifting out a few paths, drew away.

“I let them go, I ride my horse with confidence and patience,” Ortiz said. “I just dropped [into third] and when I was ready to go I started asking him. He was coming little by little today and when he turned for home and changed leads I really asked him and he just took off.”

Ortiz hit Mischevious Alex four times left handed, which likely prompted him to come out a little, “but he opened up and was running. I don’t want to fight with him or anything, so I let him do it and then I corrected it.”

Mischevious Alex covered the seven furlongs in 1:23.97 – exactly two seconds faster than Drain the Clock’s time in the Bay Shore – and he returned $3.70 as the favorite. He was given a 109 Beyer Speed Figure.

“I left it to Irad, and he let him drop a little further back than I thought,” Joeph said. “I was a little concerned. The track is heavy, and I don’t know if you’re able to make up that ground. But he put the race to bed and won as impressive as you could ask.”

Mischevious Alex is now 3 for 3 since Joseph equipped with him an extension blinker.

“He has a tendency to lean out sometimes,” Joseph said. “Since we put it on he’s run straight as an arrow.”

Both Joseph and Zacney said the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap on June 5 at Belmont Park is the next major target.

Mind Control, making his first start since December, ran a respectable second, but was never a threat to the winner.

“Irad had us pinned in there pretty good, he waited for Alex to make his move to get our horse outside and he ran a dynamite race,” trainer Gregg Sacco said. “We ran into a buzzsaw today, a really good, streaking horse. Maybe we’ll meet again down the road.”