Where Are They Now: Blindwillie McTell

   In this TDN series, Christie DeBernardis will tell the stories of accomplished and/or popular former racehorses who are now enjoying second careers as show horses, track ponies, etc.

This “Where Are They Now” story is a bit of a personal one for me. I first met popular New York-bred stakes winner Blindwillie McTell (Posse), affectionately known as Willie, back in 2018 when he was just a 2-year-old.

I was there the day he made his debut, finishing a game second at 19-1 in a state-bred maiden special weight at Aqueduct. The gutsy little bay impressed trainer Linda Rice enough for her to enter him in a stake next out and he proved worthy of her faith, splashing home to a good-looking graduation in the NYSS Great White Way S.

Willie opened his 3-year-old season in similar fashion, taking the Rego Park S. in his next outing, much to the delight of his exuberant owner/breeder Jerry Zaro. He took the Mike Lee S. two starts later and, once again, I stood in the winner's circle with Willie and his proud connections.

Willie's talent on the racetrack made him a fun horse to be around throughout his career, as did his winning personality. A very friendly and happy horse, he always tried his heart out and did so with plenty of enthusiasm, making him a barn favorite during his four seasons in the Rice barn and a personal favorite of mine.

In April of 2021, Willie let Rice know he had enough. She refused to run him for a low claiming price and Zaro agreed, so the decision was made to retire him. Being a gelding, the best option for the three-time stakes winner was finding a new home as a show horse.

I had recently assisted Rice in placing a horse named Mental Model (Into Mischief) with a friend of mine, who now successfully competes him as an eventer. So the conditioner turned to me to find a home for the lovable Blindwillie McTell.

I always knew Willie was special. I also knew he would love to have his own person and would give that individual his all in any discipline they tried together. I wanted to make sure Willie found a person who would recognize how special he was and would give him the best chance to thrive in his new career. So, I turned to one of my best friends, Caroline Letts, a hunter and jumper trainer based in Colts Neck, New Jersey, who had plenty of experience with off-track Thoroughbreds.

Letts was quick to say yes and we brought Willie to her facility in May of 2021. Under her guidance, my favorite little racehorse-that-could blossomed into a talented hunter and jumper. Her 16-year-old working student successfully competed him in Thoroughbred classes at a recognized horse show that September.

Since then he has taught lessons to kids as young as 12 and competed successfully in a variety of horse shows in both the hunter and jumper divisions. He even helped me achieve one of my dreams of climbing aboard one of the racehorses I had the privilege to follow or work with during my career. He is still as much of a perfectionist and overachiever in his new career as he was on the racetrack.

Willie continues to gain fans everywhere he goes. He is a barn favorite at MCL Equestrian and has a leaser, who adores him. His fans from his racing days, those that love New York racing and fans of Bob Dylan, for whom Blindwillie McTell was named, still follow him diligently. As expected, my old friend Willie is still a winner in everything he does and I'm just thrilled to still be a part of it.

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Charlie Johnston To Train In His Own Name From New Year, As Father Mark Gives Up Licence

Britain's winningmost trainer Mark Johnston is set to cease training under a joint-licence on Jan. 1, 2023 and cede his licence. His son Charlie, with whom he has trained in partnership throughout 2022, will now hold the licence solely. However, the elder Johnston and his wife, Deirdre, will continue in their roles at Johnson Racing, Ltd. Charlie has a number of entries in his own name for the first week of 2023.

The Johnstons released the following statement to the TDN on Friday, “With effect from 1st Jan. 2023, the training partnership of Charlie and Mark Johnston will cease to exist and horses under the care of Johnston Racing Limited will be trained under a single training licence held by Charlie Johnston.

“While the training partnership has served a purpose and we have enjoyed another excellent year on the track, we have felt that Charlie's achievements have not been fully recognised and, as the move to a single licence in his name was inevitable at some stage, we now feel that there is nothing to gain by further delay.

“Notwithstanding Mark's name being removed from the training licence, Mark and Deirdre Johnston will continue to work, full-time, in Johnston Racing Limited and will fulfil the same roles in the business as they have done in recent years.”

Mark, who began training in February of 1987, celebrated his 5,000th winner with Dubai Mile (Ire) (Roaring Lion) in August. That colt would go on to claim the G1 Criterium de Saint-Cloud on Oct. 22 and become the 27th top-level winner for Johnston and the first for his son.

In 2022, the Johnstons' string has made 1262 runs, which resulted in 174 wins and earnings of over £2.9 million. Other 2022 highlights for the duo include Living Legend (Ire) (Camelot {GB})'s victory in the G2 Jockey Club S., smart handicapper Soapy Stevens (GB) (Harzand {Ire}), I'm A Gambler (Ire) (No Nay Never)'s victory in the Listed Guisborough S., and the multiple group-placed efforts of Thunderous (Ire) (Night Of Thunder {Ire}).

“Nothing has really changed in terms of our roles,” Mark Johnston told PA Sport. “They will continue. I just didn't feel that the joint-licence worked. It served a purpose and I'm not saying they shouldn't have joint-licences, I just felt it was a bit of a limbo.

“When we had big successes, Charlie wasn't getting credit for the part he plays. I just felt that if we were to have a spectacular winner somewhere, it wouldn't be quite the same as being an individual.

“We went to a joint-licence at the beginning of last year and the plan was it would be at least three or four years, but I just felt there was no point. I just felt it should be one name.”

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Group 1 Winner Salios Retired To Shadai

Group 1 winner Salios (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}–Salomina {Ger}, by Lomitas {GB}) has been retired from racing and will stand at Shadai Stallion Station beginning in 2023, www.winkeiba.jp reported on Tuesday. The Northern Racing-bred chestnut had been due to contest the G1 Longines Hong Kong Mile at Sha Tin on Sunday but was withdrawn after he was found to be lame in his left foreleg. A fee will be announced later for the Silk Racing Company colourbearer.

Undefeated as a juvenile with his three-race campaign culminating in the G1 Asahi Hai Futurity S., Salios would go on to run second in both the 2020 G1 Japanese 2000 Guineas and G1 Japanese Derby. The dual G2 Mainichi Okan hero (2020/22) was third in the Hong Kong Mile during the 2021 edition of the Longines Hong Kong International Races, and he added a third in the G1 Yasuda Kinen this June. His record stands at 15-5-2-2, with $4,350,207 in earnings.

Salios, out of the G1 German Oaks heroine Salomina, is a half-brother to Japanese Group 2 victress Salacia (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), who also reported home second in the G1 Arima Kinen and G1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup. His extended family is one of the best in Germany, as his second dam, the Tiger Hill (Ire) Group 3 winner and multiple Group 1-placed Saldentigerin (Ger), is out of listed winner Salde (Ger) (Alkalde {Ger}). Saldentigerin is a half-sister to three stakes winners and an additional two black-type horses led by dual Group 3 winner Saldenschwinge (Ger) (N The Wings {GB}). Another half-sister, the stakes-placed Saldenehre (Ger) (Highest Honor {Fr}), produced G1 German Oaks heroine Serienholde (Ger) (Soldier Hollow {GB}), herself the dam of G1 NHK Mile Cup victor Schnell Meister (Ger) (Kingman {GB}).

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Mind Control Goes Out In Style In Cigar Mile

Red Oak Stable and Madaket Stable's Mind Control (Stay Thirsty), who has competed in 27 stakes since his debut in 2018, closed out his career in style Saturday, scoring his 11th black-type victory and third at the highest level in Aqueduct's GI Cigar Mile.

With GI Pennsylvania Derby runner-up Zandon (Upstart) bet down to 3-5, Mind Control was dispatched as the 3-1 second choice, a gift to his faithful fans in his career finale. Away quickest of all, the bay was outrun by 58-1 shot Outlier (Not This Time) and was content to stalk that rival from second through a :23.26 first quarter. The 6-year-old veteran was patiently handled by John Velazquez through a :46.55 half-mile with Get Her Number (Dialed In) tracking intently to his outside in third and White Abarrio (Race Day) not far behind. Mind Control sidled up beside Outlier at the three-quarter pole with Get Her Number joining him on the outside and White Abarrio sneaking up the fence to join the fray, making it four across the track turning for home.

Zandon ranged up five wide just off their heels, looking like he might join the group as Outlier threw in the towel and retreated. Mind Control, White Abarrio and Get Her Number locked horns, battling down the lane as Zandon unsuccessfully tried to play catch up. Mind Control forged clear in the final sixteenth to complete his career on high note with a head success over Get Her Number. It was a half-length back to White Abarrio in third and another two back to Zandon in fourth.

“If you like horse racing, you've got to love this horse,” said winning trainer Todd Pletcher. “He's cool. He's done it consistently year after year at multiple distances. He's a great horse to be able to train. He's remarkably consistent and shows up every morning.”

He continued, “When he broke well, I was happy and there was a moment in the first sixteenth of a mile where I wasn't so sure if he was liking the surface, which a couple of times in the past he hadn't cared for. But then once he got into a good rhythm down the backside, I was confident. He's the type of horse that if you get into a battle with him, he's going to fight.”

Pletcher added, “Stay Thirsty won [the 2012 Cigar Mile] in probably one of the best head bobs we've ever had in racing, so it's kind of cool that his offspring was able to win it.”

“The last two times he ran over a track like that, he was out of the pack,” Velazquez said. “The first sixteenth of a mile, he broke good and I was like, 'Oh, please. Don't do this to me.' He seemed like he was going to go, but he came out of the bridle. So, I passed the chute and kind of put him into the bridle and he got comfortable. I felt much better the way he was going towards the turn and when the other horse [Get Her Number] came to him, he got competitive. So then I felt like he was going to fight. When that horse put his head in front of me and didn't pass me, I was like, 'This is going to be a fight here.' And sure enough, I went left handed on him, he responded and put his head in front and it was a really good fight to the wire.”

On what Mind Control means to him, the Hall of Fame pilot said, “I've been around this horse for five years and he's been a really decent horse and shows up to the big dances with really tough horses–and he does it all the time. I'm a little sad to see him go because he's one of the horses that kind of keeps me in the game and kind of looking forward to these kinds of races. He's gone, so I'll have to start looking for something else to keep me in the game.”

Scoring his first Grade I win in the 2018 Hopeful S. at Saratoga, Mind Control took the Jerome S. and GIII Bay Shore S. in 2019, and captured his second Grade I that year with a gutsy score in Saratoga's GI H. Allen Jerkens Memorial S. Opening 2020 with wins in the GIII Toboggan S. and GIII Tom Fool H., both at the Big A for former trainer Greg Sacco, the homebred did not visit the winner's circle again until July of 2021, taking the GII John A. Nerud S. in his first start for Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher. He won the Parx Dirt Mile two starts later and was third in this year's GI Carter H. Off the board in the GI Churchill Downs S. in May, Mind Control scored a gritty victory over Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow) in Monmouth's GIII Salvator Mile June 18. Completing the trifecta in the GII Charles Town Classic Aug. 26, he crossed the line a neck second in the Sept. 24 Parx Dirt Mile, but was promoted to first via DQ.

Pedigree Notes:

Mind Control is one of five graded winners by Stay Thirsty, who now stands in California, and is his only North American Grade I winner. He is also the sire of a Group 1 winner in South America. The winner is out of fellow Red Oak homebred Feel That Fire (Lightnin N Thunder), a stakes-winning half-sister to MSW & GSP King For A Day (Uncle Mo) and a full to MSW Ima Jersey Girl. Her 3-year-old filly Goddess of Fire (Mineshaft), retained by Red Oak and trained by Pletcher, ran second in both the GII Rachel Alexandra S. and GII Gulfstream Park Oaks this term. Feel That Fire's juvenile filly White Hot Gold (Candy Ride {Arg}) debuted at Tampa Saturday just eight minutes before her half-brother's swansong, finishing sixth. The 15-year-old mare failed to get in foal to Uncle Mo for 2021, but had a filly that sire in February of this year. She visited both Curlin and Uncle Mo this spring.

Saturday, Aqueduct
CIGAR MILE H. PRESENTED BY NYRA BETS-GI, $750,000, Aqueduct, 12-3, 3yo/up, 1m, 1:35.53, sy.
1–MIND CONTROL, 122, h, 6, by Stay Thirsty
                1st Dam: Feel That Fire (SW, $147,280), by Lightnin N Thunder
                2nd Dam: Ubetwereven, by French Deputy
                3rd Dam: Raysor Lake, by Private Account
O-Red Oak Stable (Brunetti) & Madaket Stables, LLC; B-Red
Oak Stable (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher; J-John R. Velazquez.
$412,500. Lifetime Record: 29-12-3-6, $2,185,834. *1/2 to
Goddess of Fire (Mineshaft), GISP, $335,875. Werk Nick
Rating: A. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Get Her Number, 120, c, 4, Dialed In–Fancier, by Bernstein.
($45,000 2yo '20 OBSAPR). O-Gary Barber; B-Philip & Brenda
Robertson (KY); T-Peter Miller. $150,000.
3–White Abarrio, 118, c, 3, Race Day–Catching Diamonds, by
Into Mischief. ($7,500 Ylg '20 OBSWIN; $40,000 2yo '21
OBSMAR). O-C Two Racing Stable & Antonio Pagnano;
B-Spendthrift Farm LLC (KY); T-Saffie A. Joseph, Jr. $90,000.
Margins: HD, HF, 2. Odds: 3.15, 8.50, 3.65.
Also Ran: Zandon, Outlier, Double Crown. Scratched: O Besos.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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