Sent off the 3-2 favorite to get the New Year off on a positive note, Red Oak Stable and Madaket Stables' Mind Control (Stay Thirsty) set a comfortable if pressured pace, took a narrow lead into the stretch and repelled a final-furlong challenge from Maryland invader Our Braintrust (Freud) to win Tuesday's $150,000 Jerome S. at Aqueduct, good for 10 points in the Road to the Kentucky Derby series.
The bay, a 10-1 upset winner of the GI Hopeful S. at Saratoga last summer, was last seen finishing a distant seventh to likely 2-year-old champion and 'TDN Rising Star' Game Winner (Candy Ride {Arg}) in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Churchill Downs Nov. 2. Cutting back to a one-turn route for this sophomore debut, Mind Control showed good speed from the gate and was tracked along to his outside by his chief market rival Souper Jackpot (Ghostzapper), narrowly second in the Dec. 8 Smooth Air S. at Gulfstream Park at this trip. That duo was joined to their outer by the slow-starting Gates of Dawn (Arch) as the quarter pole loomed, but Mind Control was always holding those two, then found an additional gear when taken on by Our Braintrust inside the eighth pole.
“I wanted to put him in the race and make sure that I was in a good position where if someone was going crazy, I could just sit off the speed,” said winning jockey John Velazquez. “I broke well and got the position I wanted in the first part of the race. I saw the other horse on the outside [Souper Jackpot], he didn't want to go, so I got close to him and by the turn we both came in and kind of sat there. Down the lane, I remember from Saratoga he opens up and he waits, so I waited until they came after him to get after him really hard and he responded really well.”
Mind Control is kin to the 2-year-old filly My Gift From Above (Bodemeister) and his dam–a full-sister to NJ-bred stakes winner Ima Jersey Girl–was most recently bred to Mineshaft after missing to Bodemeister in 2018.
JEROME S., $150,900, Aqueduct, 1-1, 3yo, 1m, 1:39.06, gd.
1–MIND CONTROL, 123, c, 3, by Stay Thirsty
1st Dam: Feel That Fire, by Lightnin N Thunder
2nd Dam: Ubetwereven, by French Deputy
3rd Dam: Raysor Lake, by Private Account
O-Red Oak Stable (Brunetti) and Madaket Stables, LLC; B-Red Oak Stable (KY); T-Gregory D. Sacco; J-John R. Velazquez. $82,500. Lifetime Record: GISW, 5-3-1-0, $323,400.
2–Our Braintrust, 120, c, 3, Freud–Caller Trust, by Trust N Luck. ($27,000 RNA Ylg '17 FTKJUL; $25,000 Ylg '17 EASOCT). O-Cathal A Lynch & Stanton J Smith; B-Barak Farm (MD); T-Cathal A Lynch. $30,000.
3–Family Biz, 118, r, 3, Fed Biz–I'mclassyandsassy, by Master Command. ($11,000 2yo '18 OBSAPR). O-Danny J Chen, James Cestaro & Campbell Road Stables; B-Alex & JoAnn Lieblong (KY); T-Edward R Barker. $18,900.
Margins: 1HF, 4, HF. Odds: 1.50, 9.00, 4.20.
Also Ran: Gates of Dawn, Souper Jackpot, Direct Order.
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