ELMONT, N.Y. – Among them, Mind Control, Firenze Fire, and Performer have combined to win their last 10 starts, five of them graded stakes. That trio head a terrific 11-horse field assembled for Saturday’s $250,000 Carter Handicap, the first Grade 1 stakes to be run on the New York Racing Association circuit in 2020. The Carter, run at seven furlongs, was originally scheduled for April 4 at Aqueduct but the entire Aqueduct spring meet was lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic that shut down racing on this circuit for 80 days. The Carter is the only stakes from Aqueduct brought to the revised Belmont Park stakes schedule. It has been designated a Win and You’re In race for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint on Nov. 7 at Keeneland. The two-month delay in the Carter may prove beneficial to several runners, most notably Mind Control and Firenze Fire. For Mind Control, a multiple Grade 1 stakes winner, the additional time will enable him to recover from the fastest race of his career, a victory in the Grade 3 Tom Fool at Aqueduct on March 7. In that race, he bobbled at the break and was farther back than he had been previously, yet still rallied to get up under a 125-pound impost and Junior Alvarado. Saturday, Mind Control, who won the Grade 1 Hopeful at 2 and the Grade 1 H. Allen Jerkens at 3, will be reunited with regular rider John Velazquez and break from post 10 under high weight of 124 pounds. He is spotting 2 to 10 pounds to the rest of the field. :: Want to get your Past Performances for free? Click to learn more. :: To stay up to date, follow us on: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter “I think with a sharp break Johnny will put him in a good spot and we’ll see what happens when all the running starts,” said Gregg Sacco, the trainer of Mind Control. “The outside post is certainly good for us. We’ll see how the race is going to set up inside of us and he’ll be in a comfortable spot for Johnny. He’s always fired us so I hope he fires on Saturday.” Had the Carter been run on April 4, Firenze Fire would most likely not have been eligible to run. He was formerly trained by Jason Servis, who in March was indicted on charges of allegedly administering illegal drugs to horses. All of Servis’s horses had to be transferred to other trainers and there was a moratorium placed on running horses in his care. Kelly Breen is now the trainer of Firenze Fire, who makes his first start since winning the Grade 3 General George at Laurel on Feb. 15. He has gotten four well-spaced workouts into the horse while utilizing the same extended strong gallops that Servis typically used to train his horses. Firenze Fire, a 5-year-old son of Poseidon’s Warrior, is 3 for 5 at Belmont with wins in the Grade 1 Champagne at 2, the Grade 3 Dwyer at 3, and a nose loss to Imperial Hint in last fall’s Grade 1 Vosburgh. “The way Jason was training him was working,” Breen said. “We just have to see if he likes Belmont Park as much this year as he has in the past.” Firenze Fire will break from the rail under Manny Franco. Performer ended his 3-year-old season with four consecutive victories, ranging from six furlongs to 1 1/8 miles. Trainer Shug McGaughey had him in Florida all winter with the Carter in April as his original target. Though typically involved early in his races, Performer did come from well off the pace in a first-level allowance win last summer at Saratoga. “I think we learned something about him that day. Maybe we need to ride him away from the gate a little bit more,” McGaughey said. “I was pretty impressed with that race because I didn’t know what he would do from that far back.” Performer has had two very good workouts at Belmont Park leading to the Carter. Joel Rosario rides Performer from post 2. When the Carter was pushed back to April, trainer George Weaver elected to get a prep race into Vekoma and he won the $75,000 Sir Shackleton Stakes at Gulfstream by 3 3/4 lengths on March 28, earning a career-best 102 Beyer Speed Figure. Saturday, he’ll break from post 11 but has enough speed to gain a good position early. “The horse has a good amount of speed if you want to use it,” Weaver said. “That’s always been a great thing about him. The other great thing about him is he’ll sit, too. He doesn’t jump on the bridle.” Outside of the big four, the Carter has potential upset candidates in Nitrous and Network Effect. Nitrous, trained by Steve Asmussen, came with a furious late run to fall a neck shy in last year’s Grade 1 Woody Stephens. Most recently, he was fourth to Whitmore in the Grade 3 Count Fleet at Oaklawn. Network Effect, trained by Chad Brown, comes off a two-length victory in the Big Drama Stakes on May 2. Still Having Fun, the 2018 Woody Stephens winner, Midnight Charly, American Anthem, Bon Raison, and Majestic Dunhill complete the field. The Carter goes as race 10 on an 11-race card that includes the Grade 2 Fort Marcy, Grade 3 Westchester, and the Grade 3 Intercontinental. The four stakes, races 6 through 9, are the first four legs of the Empire 6, which will have a mandatory payout on Saturday.