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Florida Snowbird Mind Control Gearing Up For April 3 Carter At Aqueduct

Red Oak Stable and Madaket Stables' multiple Grade 1-winner Mind Control breezed six furlongs in 1:13 flat Saturday at Palm Meadows Training Center in Florida in preparation for a start in the Grade 1, $300,000 Carter Handicap on April 3 on the Wood Memorial presented by Resorts World Casino undercard at Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, N.Y.

“He had a great work yesterday going three-quarters in 1:13 solo and he galloped out strong,” trainer Gregg Sacco said. “He came out of the work super and was bucking and jumping this morning. We have one more work next Saturday at Palm Meadows and then he will fly to New York.”

Mind Control finished third last out in the Grade 3 Mr. Prospector, a seven-furlong sprint for 3-year-olds and up won by Sleepy Eyes Todd on December 19 at Gulfstream Park.

“We gave Mind Control a little break after he ran in the Mr. Prospector and he has come back as good as ever,” said Sacco. “He had six weeks off at Good Chance Farm and it did him a world of good. He came back really fresh and happy.”

Mind Control is a three-time Grade 1 winner with scores in the 2018 Hopeful at Saratoga, the 2019 Woody Stephens at Belmont and the 2019 H. Allen Jerkens at Saratoga. He has enjoyed previous success at the Big A, where he is 4-for-5, with scores in the 2019 Grade 3 Bay Shore and last year's Grade 3 Toboggan and Grade 3 Tom Fool Handicap.

Sacco said Mind Control is in fine fettle approaching his seasonal debut.

“This might be his last season to race, so we'd like to make every race count. Going into a Grade 1 off the layoff, we wanted to make sure he had all the preparation needed,” said Sacco. “We had an alternative here next weekend at Gulfstream in the Sir Shackleton, but Mind Control loves Aqueduct and he's training as good as we can expect. He looks fantastic, his coat is great and his weight is great. He's really wintered well.”

The 5-year-old Stay Thirsty bay will look to make amends for a sixth-place effort in last year's Carter, won by Vekoma over a sloppy main track in June at Belmont Park.

“We had the Carter penciled in last year and unfortunately with the pandemic it was set back to Belmont on a sloppy day, which he hates,” said Sacco. “This year, I hope we catch good weather.”

Sacco said Junior Alvarado, currently enjoying a productive winter at Gulfstream Park, will have the call on Mind Control in the Carter. Alvarado was aboard for a rallying 1 1/4-length score in last year's Grade 3 Tom Fool Handicap at the Big A.

“Junior is one-for-one on him and rode him terrific. He worked him a few times last winter for us in New York,” said Sacco. “Junior is having an outstanding winter here and riding lights out. He made a good choice to come to south Florida this year and show off his skills and I think he'll come back to New York with a head of steam.”

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Trainer Lacey Gaudet Hoping To Add Another Chapter In Family’s Success Story

Carrying the mantle for one of Maryland's best known and respected racing families, trainer Lacey Gaudet has been proud to continue the tradition her late father, Eddie, began in the 1950s.

Saturday, the 33-year-old Gaudet is hoping to add another chapter to the family's legacy and join her father as a graded-stakes winner.

Gaudet will send out Five Hellions Farm's Dontletsweetfoolya in the $250,000 Runhappy Barbara Fritchie (G3) at Laurel Park, co-headliner with the $250,000 General George (G3) on a nine-race Winter Sprintfest program featuring six stakes worth $900,000 in purses. Post time is 12:25 p.m.

One of Eddie Gaudet's three career graded victories came with Star Touch in the 1991 General George, the first year it carried graded status, then Grade 2. He also won the 1985 Anne Arundel Handicap (G3) with Classy Cut and 1994 Garden State (G3) with Alleged Impression.

Overall, Eddie Gaudet won more than 1,700 races before retiring at the end of 2011, passing away at age 87 in January 2018. Two years earlier Gaudet and her mother, Linda, herself a noted horseman, owner and trainer, combined their stables into Team Gaudet with great success.

They turned John Jones, a $25,000 claim in the summer of 2018, into a multiple stakes winner and track record holder at Colonial Downs before he was retired. They broke Double Crown's maiden at Laurel in 2019 before the horse was sold and became a multiple stakes winner and twice graded-stakes placed including runner-up in the 2020 Chick Lang (G3) at Pimlico Race Course.

The new stable star is Dontletsweetfoolya, a winner of five consecutive races by 28 ¼ combined lengths, the last two wins coming in stakes – the Nov. 28 Primonetta and Dec. 26 Willa On the Move. By multiple Grade 1 winner Stay Thirsty, she will be making her season debut in the Fritchie for Gaudet, four wins shy of 200 for her young career.

“We're going into the race confident and we know that we have a nice filly, and I think that it's just going to be fun from here on out,” she said. “If she wins, great. It's not going to take anything away from her if she gets beat, but to go for six in a row and get a graded stakes under her belt? That would be fantastic.”

The connections remained patient as Dontletsweetfoolya matured from her high-strung juvenile days. She went winless in two starts at 2, and needed two more races before breaking her maiden last July. Following an allowance win at Laurel in September, Gaudet resisted the temptation to step up in a race like the Miss Preakness (G3), part of the rescheduled Preakness Day program in October.

Instead, Dontletsweetfoolya went to Pimlico anyway for an optional claiming allowance two days earlier, overcoming an eventful ship and a troubled start for a three-length triumph that earned her a shot at stakes company.

“She matured a lot as a 3-year-old from her 2-year-old season, and that showed on her form last year. So, hopefully she can start off her 4-year-old season the right way,” Gaudet said. “She's doing everything right. We stayed the course and we went through the races that we hoped to hit and we said that this was going to be our ultimate goal. We're here, she's ready and she's doing great, so it's time to test her.”

Dontletsweetfoolya drew Post 3 in a field of eight and was made the 7-2 third choice on the morning line for the Fritchie behind 8-5 favorite Hello Beautiful and Grade 3 winner Sharp Starr. Hello Beautiful, a five-time stakes winner including each of her last three starts, will break from the far outside.

Gaudet's last graded-stakes attempt came with long shot Chauncey, second by a neck at odds of 42-1 in the 2018 Charles Town Oaks (G3).

“We drew inside of a lot of the speed,” Gaudet said. “The last couple of races I've left it up to [jockey Jevian] Toledo, and she just does whatever he wants her to. So, I think I'm just going to leave it up to him.

“I know Hello Beautiful has a lot of speed. I don't think she's the only one, but I do think that we'll definitely be the pace, the two of us, and we'll see how they fare,” she added. “It takes a little bit of the pressure off, because we know where she's going to be. We're not going to change our tactics in this race.”

Gaudet and Five Hellions will have another stakes starter Saturday, Fraudulent Charge, in the $100,000 Wide Country for 3-year-old fillies. Making her season debut, she is fourth choice of nine at 6-1 behind 2-1 program favorite Street Lute, a winner of four straight stakes and five overall. Fraudulent Charge nearly ended that streak in the Dec. 26 Gin Talking, her late rally coming up a nose short.

“We always liked her, but she definitely ran huge last time. She's matured since then, she's grown since then and she's just going into this race fantastic,” Gaudet said. “I know there's speed. I don't think that she'll be speed, she's kind of a little different from [Street Lute]. [Jockey] Johan [Rosado] says that she's very push-button, so I think that he'll be able to rate her a little bit behind the speed and if she can make that run like she did last time, I think she'll be very dangerous.”

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‘Old War Horse’ Alwaysmining Exits 2021 Debut In ‘Great’ Shape, Pointing To John B. Campbell

Runnymoore Racing's multiple stakes-winning Maryland-bred Alwaysmining, nominated to defend his title in the $100,000 John B. Campbell Feb. 13 at Laurel Park, emerged from his first victory since last year's race in good order, trainer Austin Trites said Wednesday.

“Alwaysmining, as you'd expect from the old war horse, is doing great,” Trites said.

The gelded 5-year-old son of Stay Thirsty rolled to a three-length victory in a one-mile optional claiming allowance Jan. 30 at Laurel – his first win in 350 days following the 2020 Campbell for 4-year-olds and up going about 1 1/16 miles, his seventh career stakes triumph.

It was the second start this year for Alwaysmining, who returned from 198 days between starts to run last of nine after setting the early pace in the one-mile Jennings for Maryland-bred/sired horses, a race he also won in 2020.

Alwaysmining got time off at the owner's Pennsylvania farm and was moved to Trites after successive off-the-board finishes last spring and summer. He won the Maryland Juvenile Futurity and Heft at 2; Miracle Wood, Private Terms and Federico Tesio at 3; and Jennings and Campbell last year.

“The Jennings just left us with so many more questions than answers and there was just enough reasons for us that here we are,” Trites said. “It was just kind of a can't-miss opportunity to run him in a conditioned allowance and try and give him that confidence booster. And, we figured the blinkers could really be a positive and they turned out to definitely be so.”

All 10 of Alwaysmining's wins have come at Laurel, but the most recent was his first time in 24 career starts wearing blinkers. Breaking on the far outside in a field of eight, he raced within striking distance while remaining in the clear, moved to within a length at the top of the stretch and steadily wore down front-running Zabracadabra before pulling away.

“I think the key in the afternoon is just what we learned [Jan. 30] and just to be very tactical with him, and try to keep him in that position where you know he's going to run for you,” Trites said. “Don't get him intimidated on the inside and just kind of ride him like he's the best horse and I think that's what happened.”

Nominations for the Campbell were due the same day Alwaysmining returned to the winner's circle. It comes just two weeks after his allowance win and would be his third start in a six-week span after wheeling back in 14 days following the Jennings.

“It is close. Obviously, in the heat of the moment we're going to nominate just in case,” Trites said. “We're going to keep all our options on the table. We're not going to rush into anything. Obviously the horse showed us what we wanted to see last time, and we'll kind of let him point us in the next direction.”

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Pickin’ Time Runs Down Ten For Ten To Win Nashua

Pickin' Time overtook the favorite and pacesetter Ten for Ten in the final furlong and powered home a 2 1/4-length winner to notch his first graded stakes victory in Sunday's Grade 3, $100,000 Nashua for juveniles at Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, N.Y.

Owned by John Bowers, Jr., Pickin' Time entered with ample stakes experience for trainer Kelly Breen, following his debut win at 4 ½ furlongs in July at Monmouth Park. After running eighth in the Grade 2 Saratoga Special on August 7, Breen returned the Stay Thirsty colt to Monmouth for consecutive stakes appearance, where he ran second in the one-mile Sapling on September 6 before winning the six-furlong Smoke Glacken on September 27.

Stretched back out to a mile for the first time since the Sapling, Pickin' Time broke sharp from post 4 under jockey Trevor McCarthy, who tracked initially in fifth position before moving up to fourth as 6-5 favorite Ten for Ten [pressured by Isolate] led the seven-horse field through the opening quarter-mile in 22.86 seconds with the half in 46.10 and three-quarters in 1:11.98 over the fast main track.

Out of the turn, jockey Eric Cancel kept Ten for Ten near the rail, while McCarthy made a strong bid from the outside at the top of the stretch. Pickin' Time picked off his rival and finished strong, completing the course in a final time of 1:39.89 to improve to 3-1-0 in five starts.

“We got a great break and that's what I wanted; get him out and make sure he had a comfortable spot, which he did,” said McCarthy, who also won the Grade 3 Turnback the Alarm on Saturday at Aqueduct. “Looking down the backside, I was very comfortable where I was. I wasn't getting too much kickback and that seems to be a pretty big key this weekend. I was able to get outside coming to the turn and let him get in his mojo. After that, he really accelerated strong for me and gave me a great effort through the lane. I was delighted.

“Kelly had him ready today,” he added. “He was the most experienced horse in the race, so I was really happy looking into that. Everything worked out perfect.”

Breen said the Grade 2, $150,000 Remsen on Cigar Mile Day on December 5 is the next target for the New Jersey homebred. The 1 1/8-mile test offers 10-4-2-1 qualifying points to the 2021 Grade 1 Kentucky Derby.

“He's just growing into himself,” Breen said. “He was kind of a big and gawky 2-year old. When he ran in Saratoga, he ran against that real nice horse of Steve Asmussen's [Jackie's Warrior]. We didn't get off great that day. Today was the right timing and everything worked out well for him. He's staying right where he's at. We'll look forward to the Remsen.”

Off at 9-1, Pickin' Time returned $21.00 on a $2 win bet. He improved his career earnings to $184,025.

Courtlandt Farms' Ten for Ten a $410,000 purchase at the 2019 Keeneland September Sale, was 10 ¼ lengths the best of Isolate for second in his stakes debut for Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey.

“I had a really nice trip,” Cancel said. “The pace was a little bit quick at the beginning, but I went on with it. My horse was pretty comfortable, nice and focused and he seemed to be doing it easy until we got to the quarter pole and the other horse got to him quick. He just went by. My horse never gave up. He kept on trying but the other one flew by him.”

Nova Rags, Civil War, Irish Honor and Spectatorless completed the order of finish.

The Nashua, named for the Hall of Famer who won ran second in the 1955 Kentucky Derby before winning the Belmont Stakes and Preakness, was the final leg of a Cross Country Pick 5 with Churchill Downs, with a payout of $6,424.75 for selecting all five winners. The total pool was $52,913.

There will be a Cross Country Pick 5 offered every day in November that both Aqueduct and Churchill Downs offer live racing.

Live racing resumes Thursday at Aqueduct with a nine-race card that features a first post of 12:20 p.m. Eastern.

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