Hopeful Winner Mind Control Still Going Strong at 5

There are a number of horses entered in Breeders' Cup races who have withstood the test of time.

Some have a unique story attached 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 enough to win the Hopeful Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course, one of the year's most important stakes for 2-year-olds. Yet while that race is intended to spark hope for the future, few of its winners have enjoyed lengthy, highly successful careers. Nineteen of the 37 winners (including a dead-heat) from 1984-2019 did not race at 4 and only two were a graded stakes winner at 5.

Meanwhile, if the Red Oak Stable homebred campaigned in partnership with Madaket Stables can win the Dirt Mile, he would become the first Hopeful victor to capture a Breeders' Cup race at the age of 5 and just the second overall to post a win at the World Championships at an age beyond 3, joining Gulch, who won the 1988 Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) and was named the champion sprinter at 4.

And he's 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."

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 12th at the eighth pole to finish seventh.

He had a win and a second in two mile starts at 3, but they were around one turn at Aqueduct Racetrack.

But that perception about Mind Control changed this summer.

In his first start 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 Challenge berth in the Qatar Racing Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1). It was his first win since a victory in the March 7, 2020 Tom Fool Handicap (G3), a span that included eight straight losses.

But after a fourth Aug. 28 in the seven-furlong Forego Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course it became clear that the six-furlong Sprint was not the best Breeders' Cup option for the multiple grade 1 winner.

"In the Forego, he broke a step slow and that was a tough track to close on," Rick Sacco said. "The day after that race, I met with Todd and said that I want to point to the Parx Dirt Mile. I wanted to get the two turns into him before the Breeders' Cup."

Pletcher quickly signed on.

"If the Sprint was seven furlongs, maybe we would have considered it," Pletcher said. "The six furlongs seem too sharp and short for him."

The decision quickly paid off. 

Mind Control took the lead in mid-stretch of the $200,000 two-turn Parx Dirt Mile, only to be passed 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.

"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, Mind Control will be facing a highly formidable challenge in the Dirt Mile from heavily 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 needed a little change of scenery," Rick Sacco said. "I've known Todd since he started training and we have a long-standing relationship."

Steve Brunetti said that while it was a business decision, it was difficult to make nonetheless, given Gregg Sacco's body of work with Mind Control and other Red Oak horses.

"It was a tough decision, but it was a business decision. We did what we thought was best for the horse at the time. I don't want it look like we took the horse away from Gregg. He did a phenomenal job with the horse," Brunetti said. "We're going to continue to give Gregg horses. It's like a football coach. You take this guy out and put this guy in. It doesn't mean you love them any less."

Yet for Rick Sacco it was more than business. There was a personal side that made it tough to pick up the phone and tell his brother that Mind Control was being turned over to a different trainer.

"It was difficult. My brother won two grade 1s and a bunch of graded stakes with him and he turned him over to Todd 100% sound. One of the first things Todd said when he got the horse was that he came over in great shape," Rick Sacco said. "It was a very difficult conversation but we're all big boys in the game and we get it. We still have horses with Gregg and will continue to send him horses."

For Gregg, the news was hard to accept and was difficult to break to family members, such as his son and assistant trainer, Will, who had developed a close bond with Mind Control.

"It wasn't an easy pill to swallow for me, my family, and our staff," he said.

Brunetti said that in time, when Mind Control's racing days are over and he begins a new life as a stallion, he will reward Sacco for his work in developing Mind Control into a multiple grade 1 stakes winner.

"Gregg will be compensated one way or the other and he will continue to get horses from us," Brunetti said. "Gregg was the one that developed him. If it wasn't for Gregg, we wouldn't be in this position. Todd put the finishing touches on him."

Until that final race arrives, rest assured Mind Control will not have any more fervent fans than Gregg Sacco and his family and staff.

"Our whole barn will always be proud of Mind Control," said Gregg Sacco, whose only grade 1 wins in a training career that dates back to 1989 came courtesy of Mind Control. "We developed him and brought him to his 5-year-old year while a lot of horses he ran against are no longer running. He has a heart the size of Texas and the ability to match it. We're all still rooting for him and we'll be cheering and screaming for him at the Breeders' Cup."

When that final start will happen is still up in the air. Depending on what happens Saturday at the Breeders' Cup, Brunetti says Mind Control may resurface at the Dec. 4 Cigar Mile Handicap (G1) or even the Jan. 29 Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1).

Yet, given heightened interest from breeding farms in Kentucky and Japan after the Parx Dirt Mile win, he will begin a life as a stallion next year, ending a long and successful life at the racetrack in which he proved that Hopeful winners' careers can span several years, not just a couple.

"It will be sad when he retires but in this business you're fortunate when you get a horse like him," Brunetti said. "It's been a great thrill to see how he gave us such a big win at 2 and then developed into such a good horse who is still going strong at 5. We all love him."