December, 2022 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Mind Control Retired To Rockridge Stud In New York

Red Oak Stable (Stephen P. Brunetti) and Madaket Stable's (Sol Kumin) Mind Control, winner of the Grade 1 $750,000 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct in New York on Dec. 3 in the final start of his career, will stand stallion duty at Rockridge Stud in New York under the management of Irish Hill Farm, Dutchess Views Stallions, and Rockridge Stud.

The son of multiple Grade 1 winner Stay Thirsty, out of the stakes winning mare Feel That Fire, will stand his initial season for $8,500 live foal, stands, and nurses.

Mind Control enters the New York stallion ranks as one of the most accomplished racehorses to stand stud in the state in recent history. Mind Control won the G1 Hopeful Stakes as a 2-year-old and the G1 H. Allen Jerkens as a 3-year-old at Saratoga. He finished his career in grand fashion winning the prestigious Cigar Mile.

“We are excited and looking forward to standing Mind Control at Rockridge Stud,” said Red Oak Stable racing manager Rick Sacco. “There was considerable interest from stud farms in the U.S., Japan and the Middle East, but given that his three Grade 1 victories were on the NYRA circuit, we believe Rockridge Stud in the state of New York is the perfect place for Mind Control to begin his stallion career.

“Ultimately, Stephen Brunetti wanted the horse to stand in the U.S. Sol Kumin agreed, a deal was struck with Rockridge Stud, Irish Hill Farm, and Dutchess Views Stallions, and a partnership was formed,” said Sacco.

Mind Control will serve stallion duty as the property of Rockridge Stud, Irish Hill Farm, Dutchess Views Stallions, and Waldorf Farm as well as Red Oak Stable and Madaket Stable.

“This is a significant development for Rockridge Stud, Irish Hill Farm, Dutchess Views Stallions, and for the breeding industry in New York,” added owner/operator Lere Visagie. “Getting this group of partners together to support Mind Control gives us a phenomenal opportunity to make him the most successful stallion to ever stand in the state.”

“I'm extremely proud of everything Mind Control accomplished on the race track,” said Brunetti. “I've been breeding horses for 25 years and he's the best one I've ever bred. From a breeding perspective, Mind Control has excellent conformation and size. He displayed fierce courage, he hails from a strong and active female family, and he won Grade 1 races from seven furlongs to one mile.”

“He's a warrior. There aren't a lot like him and they are a lot of fun,” Kumin told Bloodhorse.

Mind Control has won eight graded stakes races since Kumin purchased a one-third share of him after his maiden special weight win as a 2-year-old for Madaket Stable, which includes New York Mets owner Steve Cohen.

“He's been an amazing horse to be a part of. He's such a cool horse. He'll be missed,” said Kumin.

Mind Control recorded victories in five of his final nine career starts beginning with his tally in Belmont Park's $250,000 G2 John A. Nerud Stakes at seven furlongs on July 4, 2021 and culminating with his valiant victory over Grade 1 winners Get Her Number and White Abarrio in the Cigar Mile on December 3, 2022.

“It was not only great for him to go out on a win, but for him to do it in the style that defines his character in fighting off challenges from the Florida Derby winner on the inside and the American Pharoah winner on the outside,” trainer Todd Pletcher told NYRA. “It was three Grade 1 winners battling it out across the track. Mind Control showed that signature move of his where he puts his head in front and won't be denied.”

Sacco described Mind Control's final career start as almost like a movie ending. He went out on top with a hard-fought Grade 1 victory in New York.

“It was a fitting end to his impressive racing career and it was awesome that Johnny V came in from California to ride Mind Control in his final race,” Sacco said. “We're very proud of the horse, our breeding program, and the Red Oak Farm operation led by Barry Dolan. I just want to congratulate Todd and his entire team and to remember the excellent job my brother Gregg did with Mind Control earlier in his career winning two Grade 1 races.”

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‘As Courageous As They Come’: Maryland-Bred Champion Jaxon Traveler Returns To Laurel Park

West Point Thoroughbreds and Marvin Delfiner's Grade 3 winner Jaxon Traveler, a Maryland-bred champion in each of his two years of racing, will take another step toward making it three in a row when he returns to his home state for the $100,000 Dave's Friend Dec. 26 at Laurel Park.

The 19th running of the Dave's Friend for 3-year-olds and up sprinting six furlongs and 11th renewal of the 6 ½-furlong Willa On the Move for fillies and mares 3 and up are among six $100,000 stakes on an 11-race Christmastide Day program that marks the return of live racing following a week-long holiday break.

First race post time is 11:25 a.m.

Bred in Maryland by Dr. and Mrs. A. Leonard Pineau, Jaxon Traveler was the state's champion 2-year-old in 2020 and 3-year-old in 2021. He has raced eight times this year with one win, three seconds and a third, the lone victory coming in the May 21 Maryland Sprint (G3) at historic Pimlico Race Course.

Based in New York with Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen, Jaxon Traveler has won three of his four career stakes in Maryland including the 2020 Maryland Juvenile Futurity at Laurel, where he has two wins and a second in four tries.

“He loves it in Maryland, and fingers crossed we come down and put on a good performance,” West Point executive vice president Tom Bellhouse said. “It's exciting. It's great to get him back at Laurel. It's a great card they put together. It should be a great day of racing.”

Jaxon Traveler ran a career-best 97 Beyer Speed Figure in his most recent outing, finishing fourth – beaten a head and two necks – in the six-furlong Fall Highweight (G3) Nov. 26 at Aqueduct while carrying 131 pounds.

“This guy's been knocking heads with everybody. I thought his race in the Fall Highweight was one of the best he's ever run. He was just phenomenal,” Bellhouse said. “He's not a big horse in stature and when they came down the stretch and they had those three, four horses all neck and neck and he's carrying that much weight, I'm thinking the weight might have hit him a little more than a couple of those bigger horses.

“He's as courageous as they come,” he added. “I was there and I thought at the sixteenth pole we might have a shot to win it, but you could see those last couple jumps he was fighting but he was getting tired with all that weight.”

Fifth in the July 30 Ben's Cat sprinting 5 ½ furlongs over a good turf course in his last trip to Laurel, Jaxon Traveler hasn't been over Laurel's main track since running second behind Whereshetoldmetogo – a 13-time stakes winner that was retired last month – in the March 19 Not For Love.

“Hopefully he'll have a nice 5-year-old campaign,” Bellhouse said. “He's a cool horse. He shows up and, on his best day, he's a graded-stakes horse. He didn't do anything to dissuade us from thinking that in the Fall Highweight. He just goes out and does his thing. On a good day he'll win and, if not, you know he'll give you everything he's got.”

Pocket 3s Racing's Threes Over Deuces returns to defend his title in the Dave's Friend. He is 0-for-11 in 2022 but has five seconds and a third and has placed in two stakes including the Maryland Sprint, less than two lengths behind Jaxon Traveler. He exits runner-up finishes in back-to-back optional claiming allowance at Laurel, beaten a length to 2021 Fire Plug winner Wendell Fong Nov. 26 and a nose by 2020 Maryland Million Sprint winner Karan's Notion Dec. 10, both of whom return in the Dave's Friend.

Baxter Racing Stable's Savoy enters the Dave's Friend riding a three-race win streak for trainer Mario Serey Jr., who claimed the 4-year-old Honor Code gelding for $25,000 out of a fifth-place finish Aug. 27 at Timonium. Each of his recent wins have come over an off track, rallying to get up by a half-length in the slop sprinting seven furlongs Dec. 3.

Beren, winner of the July 16 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash in his lone Laurel start; Divine Leader, beaten a nose last out in the seven-furlong Claiming Crown Rapid Transit Nov. 12; Oct. 1 Challedon winner Factor It In, third by a neck in the Fall Highweight; 2020 Maryland Million Nursery winner Kenny Had a Notion; Showtime Cat, third last out in the Maryland Million Turf Sprint Oct. 22; and Going to the Lead, third behind Karan's Notion and Threes Over Deuces Dec. 10, complete the field.

Dave's Friend, the first pure sprinter to earn over $1 million, started 76 times over nine seasons from 1978-86 and retired at age 11 with 35 wins and as Maryland's all-time leading money earner. Seventeen of his wins came in stakes at nine different tracks, including the Marylander (G3) and Patriot (G3) in 1978, when he also finished second in the Monmouth Invitational (G1). Maryland's Horse of the Year in 1980 and inducted into the Maryland Thoroughbred Hall of Fame in 2016, Dave's Friend set records at four different tracks.

C J I Phoenix Group and No Guts No Glory Farm's Fille d'Esprit returns to open company chasing a sixth career stakes win and third in a row in the $100,000 Willa On the Move Dec. 26 at Laurel Park.

Trainer Jerry Robb will be seeking his first victory in the Willa On the Move, having run second with Princess Kokachin in 2021. Fille d'Esprit won the seven-furlong Maryland Million Distaff Oct. 22 and six-furlong Politely Nov. 25 at Laurel, where she owns 10 wins from 17 lifetime starts.

“She's doing amazing,” Robb said. “it's incredible how she just keeps doing her thing, but I've had a few back-to-back like her, so I've been spoiled.”

Fille d'Esprit follows in the footsteps of mares such as Anna's Bandit and Street Lute, who Robb trained to 27 wins, 19 in stakes, and more than $1.4 million in purse earnings since 2016. Anna's Bandit and Fille d'Esprit share No Armistice as a grandsire, which led Robb to claim Fille d'Esprit for $10,000 Aug. 21, 2020.

“You just have to watch them closely and let them tell you what they need to do,” Robb said, “and listen to them.”

For the fourth time in her last six starts, Fille d'Esprit drew the rail as she returns to open company. Her last open victory came in the seven-furlong Seeking the Pearl Aug. 16 at Colonial Downs.

“She can do anything you ask her to do,” Robb said. “She can go to the front or lay off of it. Post position doesn't matter to her.

“She's coming off a couple of good spots,” he added. “This one is open, so it'll be a little tougher competition. I looked at the field and there's some nice fillies in there, for sure, but I wouldn't trade my cards for theirs.

Baxter Racing Stable's Swayin to and Fro is five-for-six lifetime at Laurel whose two most recent wins have come in stakes – the six-furlong Shine Again against Maryland-bred/sired horses Sept. 10 at historic Pimlico Race Course and the open Safely Kept sprinting seven furlongs Nov. 26 at Laurel.

Five Hellions Farm's Dontletsweetfoolya is a multiple stakes winner on dirt at Laurel who returned to the main track last out after six straight turf outings to win an open six-furlong allowance Oct. 30 at Laurel, a race where Swayin to and Fro finished third. Trained by Lacey Gaudet, the 5-year-old mare ran fourth in last year's Willa On the Move.

Also entered are Union Lake, third in the Sept. 2 Prioress (G2) at Saratoga; Politely runner-up Juror Number Four; Moody Woman, third in the Sept. 24 Weather Vane at Pimlico and fourth in the Safely Kept; Fouette, a last out winner sprinting six furlongs at Aqueduct Dec. 8; Movie Moxie and Flashy Charge.

Willa On the Move was a Maryland-bred daughter of Assert (IRE) that raced 12 times as a 3-year-old in 1988 winning five stakes, including the Marshua and Gay Matelda at Laurel Park and Moccasin and Caesar's Wish at Pimlico. From there she won the Ashland (G1), ran third in the Kentucky Oaks (G1) and Alabama (G1) and second in the Gazelle (G1) and Spinster (G1) before being retired following the Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1).

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Kirkpatrick & Co. Presents In Their Care: Future Trainer Estrada Found His Calling In Helping Others

Johnathan Estrada feels very much at home at Belmont Park.

His parents worked as grooms there. He is proud to be part of the first graduating class of Anna House, established in 2002 as a daycare and early education center for children of backstretch employees at the Elmont, N.Y., track.

Estrada, 21, has been employed by trainer David Donk for the last four years, first as a hotwalker and now as a groom. He is part of the workforce that lives on the backside. He devotes countless hours to the Racetrack Chaplaincy, helping with teen mentoring and other programs. And if the need should arise, he is not afraid to put himself at risk to rescue horses from a fire.

Estrada was relaxing in his room during the early evening on April 13, 2021, when he thought he heard a loose horse running by. He opened his door in his flip-flops to find three loose horses barreling past. He knew something was very wrong.

Then he smelled smoke. Then he saw barn 60 on fire. He never hesitated. Flip-flops and all, he charged into the rapidly-burning structure and joined workers from other nearby barns in rescuing as many terrified horses as possible.

“People from trainers I didn't even know were here,” he said, “running in and out of the barn and trying to help these horses.”

Fifty-eight horses were saved. American Sailor and Beastie D, both trained by Wayne Potts, could not be spared. American Sailor had won the Grade 3 Troy Stakes on turf the year before. No one will ever know what Beastie D might have accomplished. He was an unraced 3-year-old.

Any parent would be proud to have Estrada as a son. His work ethic and selflessness were recognized not long ago when Godolphin's Thoroughbred Industry Employee Awards were presented at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky. He received the Newcomer Award, sponsored by the New York Racing Association.

Estrada, whose parents both were grooms, is part of the first graduating class at NYRA's Anna House

“He is a warm, kind-hearted young man who is willing to go the extra mile for so many people,” said Nick Caras, program director for the Racetrack Chaplaincy in New York. “He is always asking, 'What do we have to do today? Who are we helping?'”

No task seems to be too small or too big for Estrada. On a recent day, he removed some seats from a 15-seat Chaplaincy van to create more space for supplies for a holiday party.

He never knows where the course of each day might take him. “He has sat with somebody in the waiting room of a hospital for hours on end,” Caras noted.

Estrada has been part of Donk's team since he was 18. “He's very kind with the horses and he loves the horses,” the trainer said.

Estrada's wonderful demeanor leads him to be consistently paired with fillies. “I'm very kind to animals and fillies like that type of person,” he said. “They like to be handled very carefully and you have to be gentle with them. I guess I have that touch.”

“He's very kind with the horses,” trainer David Donk said of Estrada

Initially, Estrada did not think he could adjust to waking up in time to arrive at the barn before dawn. The long hours were daunting. He briefly moved to California to study in a seminary, but the lure of the horses was too strong. He returned to Belmont after only a few months.

He said of his interaction with horses, “Being able to connect with them and bond with them as you're working, it brings me peace. They are always there for you, the horses. As much as we are there for them, they are there for us.”

He has spent countless hours volunteering since he was 15, helping first at a backstretch social event. “Ever since that day, when I got to see families smiling and children laughing and enjoying themselves, it just clicked in me. I love to help people,” he said.

He has become so indispensable that Caras calls him “part of the Chaplaincy family.”

Estrada's goal is to become a trainer. He learns valuable lessons every day from Donk and his top assistant, Arturo Ramirez. He holds Ramirez in such high esteem that he views him as a “father figure” around the barn.

Donk would like nothing more than for Estrada to realize his dream one day. “Any goal is achievable,” he said. “Anyone this young, it's up to you to learn how to train horses and also learn the business side of it.”

Estrada understands how much he must learn if he is to train on his own. He knows the business aspect can be particularly demanding, and he has recently begun to consider attending college as a way to complement his hands-on knowledge that increases daily.

“It sounds impossible, but nothing is impossible,” said Estrada of his career goal.

Tom Pedulla wrote for USA Today from 1995-2012 and has been a contributor to the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Blood-Horse, America's Best Racing and other publications.

If you wish to suggest someone as a potential subject for In Their Care, please send an email to info@paulickreport.com that includes the person's name and contact information in addition to a brief description of the individual's background.

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Irad Ortiz Jr. Eclipses Garrett Gomez’ Single-Season Record For Stakes Wins

With the 2022-2023 Championship Meet days away, jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. is back at Gulfstream Park looking for a strong finish to what has been an historic, record-breaking season.

Ortiz, 30, arrived in South Florida in mid-December in a familiar position – leading all jockeys in North America in both wins and purses earned, having topped the 300-win mark for an eighth straight year.

On his first day, Ortiz won the Wait a While on Gulfstream's new turf course aboard Junipermarshmallow Dec. 10. It was his 78th stakes victory of 2022, two more than the previous single-season record of 76 set by late Hall of Famer Garrett Gomez in 2007. Ortiz picked up No. 79 with Viburnum in the $100,000 Via Borghese Dec. 17.

“It's phenomenal. It's been great. Thank God first for keeping me healthy and sound and in one piece to be able to keep doing it every day, keep trying,” Ortiz said. “My agent, Steve Rushing, does a great job and the trainers and owners give me great opportunities, a lot of good horses. They give me such good support and thank God everything worked out good. We've had an amazing year.”

Once considered an unapproachable mark, Ortiz began closing in on Gomez starting with three Breeders' Cup wins at Keeneland Nov. 4 and 5 – the Juvenile (G1) on Forte, Sprint (G1) with Elite Power and Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) aboard Goodnight Olive – to push his career total to 17.

Ortiz swept the Nashua (G3) and Tempted Nov. 6 at Aqueduct as well as the Youngstown Oaks and Mahoning Distaff Nov. 21 at Mahoning Valley to set him up for the chance to pass Gomez, who passed away in 2016 at the age of 44.

“I didn't even realize I was close until Breeders' Cup week when my agent told me. I said, 'Wow.' We were only 10 behind so I said, 'Let's try for it. Let's work and try to make it. It's not easy, but let's try.' Everything worked out great,'” Ortiz said. “It was amazing.

“Garrett Gomez was someone we respect so much, a great rider,” he added. “It was hard. My agent kept me motivated.”

Less than a month earlier, thanks to his victories in Kentucky and New York, Ortiz surpassed his own North American record for single-season earnings. He set the bar with $34,109,019 in 2019 and raised it again this year with more than $36 million and counting.

“It's been great. What can I say?” Ortiz said. “It's something that's very exciting and very special for me because I've been working at it since I started. I've been working since then right up to today. I wake up and go out there and try to do my thing and get on horses every single day.”

Ortiz began riding professionally in 2011 and is approaching 3,400 career victories, having reached 300 or more wins every year since 2015. He won the Eclipse Award as North America's champion jockey three straight years from 2018 to 2020, and is a leading candidate to add a fourth statuette this season.

At Gulfstream, where he rode his first full winter in 2017-2018, Ortiz won three consecutive Championship Meet titles from 2018-2019 to 2020-2021, the latter with a track record 140 victories. He finished third last winter with 80 wins from just 297 mounts, but topped all riders with more than $5 million in purse earnings after sweeping the $3 million Pegasus World Cup (G1) with Life Is Good and $1 million Pegasus Turf (G1) with Colonel Liam.

Leading rider at Belmont Park's spring-summer meet as well as Saratoga, Ortiz has set a personal high with 49 graded-stakes wins in 2022, including his second Belmont Stakes (G1) in June with Mo Donegal. Retired Hall of Famer Jerry Bailey holds the single season record with 55 graded victories.

“I just go out there and try to win every single race. That's the way I work,” Ortiz said. We've been having a great year so let's finish strong. You want to do it but it's not that easy, like people think. You can have the favorite by far, but something happens at the break or any part of the race, you could get beat. No matter how good the horse is that you have, everything has to go the right way. It's not easy.”

The 71-day Championship Meet opens Monday, Dec. 26 highlighted by a pair of $100,000 turf stakes – the Tropical Park Derby for 3-year-olds and Tropical Park Oaks for 3-year-old fillies – and runs through Sunday, April 2.

“It's great to be back,” Ortiz said. “I feel great. I love the people, they give me such big support and I love everyone here. They're happy when they see me and I respect everyone, so I'm here to do our thing and win the most races we can.”

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