Breeders' Cup on Radar for Life Is Good, Mind Control

Graded stakes winners Life Is Good  and Mind Control  both joined trainer Todd Pletcher's barn this year, and now the Hall of Fame trainer may send the pair to the Breeders' Cup World Championships together after their Sept. 25 stakes victories.

Pletcher said he saw just what he had hoped from talented 3-year-old Life Is Good, who secured a third career graded stakes victory, defeating elders in Saturday's Kelso Handicap (G2) over a one-turn mile at Belmont Park. 

The son of leading sire Into Mischief   was never in doubt throughout the journey, commanding the compact field through every point of call under Irad Ortiz Jr.'s expert riding and glided home a 5 1/2-length winner. 

"We were very pleased with he way he ran. He seemed to settle pretty nicely," Pletcher said Sunday. "He got into a good rhythm and Irad asked him at the top of the stretch to go along and he did. He dropped right down to the rail and I was happy with it."

Pletcher said Life Is Good, owned by China Horse Club and WinStar Farm, is a likely candidate for the $1 million Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile Nov. 6 at Del Mar. 

"That's what we had talked about beforehand and yesterday definitely encouraged us to continue that path," Pletcher said. "I'll talk to all the connections, and we'll firm up a plan, but that's what we talked about before."

Favored in all five of his career starts, Life Is Good was an impressive three-time winner in California while racing for Hall of Famer Bob Baffert. He returned to action in the Aug. 28 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course where he was a game second to Jackie's Warrior .

Pletcher took a similar route with 2011 Kelso winner Uncle Mo  , who was second in the H. Allen Jerkens (then run as the Foxwoods King's Bishop) off a layoff en route to an in-hand Kelso score.

"I've thought about that, they both were coming back in the same two races off a layoff," Pletcher said. "They were both talented horses and have speed and ability to carry it over a distance. They were two super star horses."

Pletcher could arrive at the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile with at least two solid contenders after Mind Control displayed a game effort in the Parx Dirt Mile Stakes at Parx Racing Saturday. The 5-year-old son of Stay Thirsty   was passed by Hill 'n' Dale Metropolitan Handicap (G1) winner Silver State  in the stretch, but dug back in to win by a head under John Velazquez.

A graded stakes winner in four straight years, Red Oak Stable and Madaket Stables' Mind Control made his first start going two turns since finishing a distant seventh in the 2018 Sentient Jet Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) at Churchill Downs. Nevertheless, Pletcher said he was confident that two turns would not be out of reach. 

"He was game," Pletcher said. "That other horse (Silver State) looked like he had him, but he fought right back. It was good to see him get the win. We thought he would handle two turns and we were happy to see him do it."

Pletcher said the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile is under consideration but not etched in stone for Mind Control, who also earned an entry into the $2 million Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) with a victory in the July 4 John A. Nerud Stakes (G2), a Breeders' Cup "Win And You're In" qualifier. 

"I have to talk to (Red Oak Stable racing manager) Rick Sacco. He wanted to run in the Parx Mile to see where we are," Pletcher said. "I'll give it a few days, talk with Rick, and come up with a game plan."

Mind Control, an earner of over $1.4 million, has won all six of his graded stakes scores in New York. Following his juvenile season in 2018, in which Mind Control garnered an upset score in the Hopeful Stakes (G1) at Saratoga, he secured victories in the 2019 Bay Shore Stakes (G3) at Aqueduct Racetrack before a triumphant return to the Spa in that year's H. Allen Jerkens while racing for trainer Gregg Sacco.

After winning the Toboggan Stakes (G3) and Tom Fool Handicap (G3) at Aqueduct in 2020, Mind Control snapped an eight-race losing streak in his debut for Pletcher in the Nerud.