There are a variety of horses entered in Breeders’ Cup races who’ve withstood the take a look at of time.
Some have a novel story connected to them.
Mind Control blends both elements, making him one of the most intriguing starters at the World Championships.
The Todd Pletcher-trained son of Stay Thirsty could pull off an unprecedented achievement Nov. 6 when he runs in the $1 million Big Ass Fans Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1) at Del Mar.
In 2018 he was precocious sufficient to win the Hopeful Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course, one of many 12 months’s most essential stakes for 2-year-olds. But whereas that race is meant to spark hope for the long run, few of its winners have loved prolonged, extremely profitable careers. Nineteen of the 37 winners (together with a dead-heat) from 1984-2019 didn’t race at 4 and solely two had been a graded stakes winner at 5.
In the meantime, if the Crimson Oak Steady homebred campaigned in partnership with Madaket Stables can win the Filth Mile, he would turn out to be the primary Hopeful victor to seize a Breeders’ Cup race on the age of 5 and simply the second total to submit a win on the World Championships at an age past 3, becoming a member of Gulch, who gained the 1988 Breeders’ Cup Dash (G1) and was named the champion sprinter at 4.
And he is coming into the race off the glow of a stakes victory over Silver State , the Hill ‘n’ Dale Metropolitan Handicap (G1) winner.
“I’m not sure if there’s too many other horses that have won the Hopeful and have had a chance to win a Breeders’ Cup race at the end of their 5-year-old season,” said Steve Brunetti, who along with his brother, John Jr., runs Red Oak Stable, which bred Mind Control and owns the majority share of him. “Ever since we had him at the farm we thought he had a lot of ability. Our farm manager, Barry Dolan, did a great job with him.
“He’s very determined, he’s sound, and he has a lot of ability, and when you put that together it has a lot to do with his success. We have a Hall of Fame trainer and a great program at Red Oak and when certain things come together you get results like this.”
His longevity and continued success alone would make Mind Control a singular sensation at Del Mar, but the path he has taken to the World Championships has been filled with some surprising twists and turns. While switching trainers is not uncommon in horse racing, a change in barns this summer for Mind Control frayed the relationship between two brothers, as Rick Sacco, the racing manager for Red Oak, backed Brunetti in moving the 5-year-old multiple grade 1 winner from the New Jersey barn of his brother, trainer Gregg Sacco, and placing him under the care of Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher in New York.
For Gregg Sacco, the pain of saying goodbye to Mind Control meant losing the only horse he has ever trained with more than $500,000 in earnings during his 25-year career.
“It was devastating. It was like losing Tom Brady,” said Gregg Sacco, who still has about 10 Red Oak horses under his care. “He’s the kind of horse you can’t replace. It was so tough because it came from my brother and there’s some tension now with him because it wasn’t called for.”
Gregg Sacco calls the loss of Mind Control “devastating” after the horse was moved to Todd Pletcher this summer
Indeed it’s been a memorable and emotional journey through four racing seasons that has seen Mind Control win the Hopeful at 2 and the H. Allen Jerkens Stakes (G1) at 3 en route to a career record of 9-3-4 from 23 starts with earnings over $1.4 million.
“He’s been awesome,” said Sol Kumin of Madaket Stables who bought a one-third share of Mind Control after a maiden win in the 2-year-old’s second start and was aboard for the Hopeful victory and five other graded stakes wins. “He’s been a cool horse to own. He has a big heart and battles.”
A year ago, the two-turn Dirt Mile would have seemed an odd spot for Mind Control. Ironically, in his first 22 starts, the only one at two turns was the 2018 Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) when he was not 100% after shipping to Churchill Downs and rallied from twelfth on the eighth pole to complete seventh.
He had a win and a second in two mile begins at 3, however they had been round one flip at Aqueduct Racetrack.
However that notion about Thoughts Management modified this summer season.
In his first begin for Pletcher, he beat Firenze Fire by a head in the seven-furlong John A. Nerud Stakes (G2) July 4 at Belmont Park to earn a Breeders’ Cup Problem berth within the Qatar Racing Breeders’ Cup Dash (G1). It was his first win since a victory within the March 7, 2020 Tom Idiot Handicap (G3), a span that included eight straight losses.
Rick Sacco leads Thoughts Management to the winner’s circle after the John A. Nerud Stakes at Belmont Park
However after a fourth Aug. 28 within the seven-furlong Forego Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course it grew to become clear that the six-furlong Dash was not the very best Breeders’ Cup choice for the a number of grade 1 winner.
“Within the Forego, he broke a step sluggish and that was a tricky observe to shut on,” Rick Sacco stated. “The day after that race, I met with Todd and stated that I wish to level to the Parx Filth Mile. I needed to get the 2 turns into him earlier than the Breeders’ Cup.”
Pletcher rapidly signed on.
“If the Dash was seven furlongs, perhaps we’d have thought of it,” Pletcher stated. “The six furlongs appear too sharp and brief for him.”
The choice rapidly paid off.
Thoughts Management took the lead in mid-stretch of the $200,000 two-turn Parx Filth Mile, solely to be handed by Met Mile winner Silver State . Yet in the final furlong, the fighter inside Mind Control surfaced and he battled back to win the Sept. 25 stakes by a head over Silver State, a fellow Dirt Mile starter.
Mind Control (inside) turns back Silver State to win the Parx Dirt Mile at Parx Racing
“He’s ultra-consistent and is a warrior, which you saw in the Parx race when he fought back to win,” Pletcher said. “He’s versatile and determined. He came to us in great shape and has been a very nice horse.”
Aside from a tough rematch with Silver State, whose six-race win streak was snapped with a third in the Whitney Stakes (G1) prior to the Parx Racing stakes, Thoughts Management might be going through a extremely formidable problem within the Filth Mile from closely favored Life Is Good , who is also trained by Pletcher and has won four of five starts, with the lone loss coming to the Sprint favorite Jackie’s Warrior in the Jerkens off a layoff of nearly six months.
“There’s a major favorite in there and he will be tough to beat but if he doesn’t fire, there’s a bunch of horses in there who can win,” said Kumin, who also owns a share of Dirt Mile starter Eight Rings .
For sure, if it comes down to a stretch duel, Life Is Good or Silver State or anyone else will receive a supreme test from the feisty Mind Control, who has five wins of less than a length, including the Hopeful and Jerkens.
“He’s going to run a big race in the Dirt Mile,” Steve Brunetti said. “He’s going to surprise a lot of people.”
All of those narrow wins might also explain why Mind Control often gets overlooked in conversations about the top milers or sprinters.
“(Mind Control) is below the radar and under-appreciated,” Kumin said. “At the end of the year, you don’t hear much about him, then you look at the slate and see that he won a couple of stakes. At 2 and 3, he won some big-time races. He doesn’t draw off to win by 10, but he knows where the finish line is. He’ll win by a nose or a neck and finds a way to win. He doesn’t dazzle you so that’s probably why he doesn’t get the love or respect he deserves.”
As for the prospect of facing grade 1 company at two turns, Brunetti, whose family has owned Hialeah Park since his father, John, bought the famed Florida racetrack in 1977, believes Mind Control has the breeding to handle the distance.
Mind Control is a son of the Lightnin N Thunder mare Feel That Fire, a stakes winner bred and raced by Red Oak and trained by Gregg Sacco. He’s also a half brother to Red Oak’s Goddess of Fire (Mineshaft ), a 2-year-old filly who was third for Pletcher in the 1 1/16-mile Pocahontas Stakes (G3) and is scheduled to run Nov. 5 in the mile Tempted Stakes at Belmont Park.
“We bred him and we bred his dam. We still have the dam, and she has a Candy Ride yearling and is in foal to Uncle Mo ,” said Brunetti, who has a roster of 55 horses, a manageable business model established by Rick Sacco in 2017.
Feel That Fire hails from quality bloodlines herself as her dam, Ubetwereven (French Deputy), produced Red Oak’s King for a Day (Uncle Mo), who beat Maximum Security in the 1 1/16-mile TVG.com Pegasus Stakes for Pletcher and is now a stallion at Irish Hill & Duchess Views Stallions in New York.
Ubetwereven is in foal to Hard Spun and will be bred back to him.
The switch in trainers took place after Mind Control was seventh in the May 1 Churchill Downs Stakes Presented by Ford (G1), losing by 3 1/2 lengths. Brunetti and Rick Sacco wanted to move Mind Control to New York to train for the Nerud and Forego, but Gregg Sacco could not move his operation across the Hudson River.
“Most of my horses don’t merit being in New York,” Gregg Sacco said.
So, Rick Sacco turned to Pletcher, whom he first met about 25 years earlier when Pletcher was starting out as a trainer. Back then, Sacco was the racing secretary at Hialeah and he gave the fledgling trainer stalls after Pletcher had been turned down by Gulfstream Park.
“We wanted slightly change of surroundings,” Rick Sacco stated. “I’ve identified Todd since he began coaching and we now have a long-standing relationship.”
(L-R): Steve Brunetti and Rick Sacco on the 2018 Keeneland September Yearling Sale
Steve Brunetti stated that whereas it was a enterprise determination, it was tough to make nonetheless, given Gregg Sacco’s physique of labor with Thoughts Management and different Crimson Oak horses.
“It was a tricky determination, however it was a enterprise determination. We did what we thought was greatest for the horse on the time. I do not need it seem like we took the horse away from Gregg. He did an exceptional job with the horse,” Brunetti stated. “We’ll proceed to provide Gregg horses. It is like a soccer coach. You’re taking this man out and put this man in. It does not imply you’re keen on them any much less.”
But for Rick Sacco it was greater than enterprise. There was a private facet that made it robust to select up the cellphone and inform his brother that Thoughts Management was being turned over to a distinct coach.
“It was tough. My brother gained two grade 1s and a bunch of graded stakes with him and he turned him over to Todd 100% sound. One of many first issues Todd stated when he obtained the horse was that he came visiting in nice form,” Rick Sacco stated. “It was a really tough dialog however we’re all large boys within the sport and we get it. We nonetheless have horses with Gregg and can proceed to ship him horses.”
For Gregg, the information was exhausting to just accept and was tough to interrupt to relations, similar to his son and assistant coach, Will, who had developed a detailed bond with Thoughts Management.
“It wasn’t a simple capsule to swallow for me, my household, and our workers,” he stated.
Brunetti stated that in time, when Thoughts Management’s racing days are over and he begins a brand new life as a stallion, he’ll reward Sacco for his work in creating Thoughts Management right into a a number of grade 1 stakes winner.
“Gregg might be compensated by some means and he’ll proceed to get horses from us,” Brunetti stated. “Gregg was the one which developed him. If it wasn’t for Gregg, we would not be on this place. Todd put the ending touches on him.”
Till that closing race arrives, relaxation assured Thoughts Management won’t have any extra fervent followers than Gregg Sacco and his household and workers.
“Our complete barn will at all times be pleased with Thoughts Management,” stated Gregg Sacco, whose solely grade 1 wins in a coaching profession that dates again to 1989 got here courtesy of Thoughts Management. “We developed him and introduced him to his 5-year-old 12 months whereas a whole lot of horses he ran towards are not operating. He has a coronary heart the dimensions of Texas and the flexibility to match it. We’re all nonetheless rooting for him and we’ll be cheering and screaming for him on the Breeders’ Cup.”
When that closing begin will occur remains to be up within the air. Relying on what occurs Saturday on the Breeders’ Cup, Brunetti says Thoughts Management could resurface on the Dec. 4 Cigar Mile Handicap (G1) and even the Jan. 29 Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1).
But, given heightened curiosity from breeding farms in Kentucky and Japan after the Parx Filth Mile win, he’ll start a life as a stallion subsequent 12 months, ending a protracted and profitable life on the racetrack by which he proved that Hopeful winners’ careers can span a number of years, not only a couple.
“It will likely be unhappy when he retires however on this enterprise you are lucky whenever you get a horse like him,” Brunetti stated. “It has been an excellent thrill to see how he gave us such an enormous win at 2 after which developed into such a great horse who remains to be going robust at 5. All of us love him.”
