OZONE PARK, N.Y. – For a horse that’s won 10 stakes, including two Grade 1s at Saratoga, Mind Control seems a bit underappreciated. As he prepares to make the final start of his highly successful career in Saturday’s Grade 1, $750,000 Cigar Mile at Aqueduct, his connections do not yet have a deal for the 6-year-old’s breeding rights.

“We have not finalized plans to stand him,” said Rick Sacco, racing manager for the Brunetti family’s Red Oak Stable, which owns the horse with Sol Kumin’s Madaket Stables.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike was a disappointing sixth and last in the Clark for an apparent reason.

“He came out of the race with a pretty serious guttural-pouch infection, about a 4 out of 5,” trainer Eric Reed said. “I hate to make excuses, but that’s the reality of it. He was just full of yellow and green. No blood, so we were glad about that.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Luis Saez, riding his first full Churchill Downs meet, was the leading jockey with 23 wins, two more than Tyler Gaffalione. Saez rode six winners Saturday, one shy of the Churchill record held jointly by Pat Day (1984) and Julien Leparoux (2009). Gaffalione had four winners Sunday to narrow the gap.

At Keeneland in October, Saez also edged Gaffalione by a 21-20 count. Both jockeys will make Gulfstream Park in Florida their winter base, with Saez resuming action there Sunday when named in eight races.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Seven of the nine stakes winners during the final week of the Churchill Downs fall meet will be stabled at Fair Grounds this winter, not to mention a substantial number of horses who won allowance and maiden races during the same span.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Spun Intended will probably start around two turns in his 3-year-old debut in 2023 after an attractive win in a maiden special weight race at 6 1/2 furlongs on Saturday at Del Mar.

Ridden by Mike Smith, Spun Intended disputed the early pace before pulling clear by 6 1/2 lengths. Spun Intended was timed in 1:15.83 and earned an 87 Beyer Speed Figure.

The race was Spun Intended’s second start after a second-place finish in a similar

DEL MAR, Calif. – The retirement of Avenue de France has been postponed until after Sunday’s Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes at Del Mar.

Avenue de France was scheduled to be sold at the Keeneland November breeding stock sale last month, but was withdrawn from the sale after she finished fifth in the Grade 2 Goldikova Stakes on Oct. 29 at Santa Anita. The loss ended a streak of five first- or second-place finishes in stakes for the 5-year-old mare.

Keith Doleshel, the racing secretary for the New York Racing Association, has appealed a $2,000 fine issued to him by the New York State Gaming Commission in October for “failing to conduct business in a professional manner.”

“Anyone who knows Keith Doleshel knows that during his tenure at NYRA and prior he’s always conducted his business in a professional manner,” said Drew Mollica, Doleshel’s attorney. “The scarlet letter of unprofessionalism cannot stand, so he must appeal.”

DEL MAR, Calif. - Phil D’Amato and John Shirreffs had remarkably similar reactions on Sunday morning to the manner in which their horses ran in Saturday’s Grade 2 Seabiscuit Handicap at Del Mar.

Both were left with highly favorable impressions of performances by race winner Hong Kong Harry, trained by D’Amato, and second-place finisher Beyond Brilliant, trained by Shirreffs.

Hong Kong Harry won his third stakes of the year in the $251,500 Seabiscuit Handicap at 1 1/16 miles, closing from fifth in a field of eight to win by a neck over Beyond Brilliant.

There won’t be any turf racing at Fair Grounds until late December at the earliest, with plans to run a limited number of grass races on the outer portion of the turf course scrapped this week.

Multiple stakes winner Stilleto Boy is on target for the Grade 2 San Antonio Stakes on Dec. 26 at Santa Anita after a recent rest.

Trainer Ed Moger Jr. said Stilleto Boy was given a seven-week vacation at a farm after finishing last of six behind the now-retired superstar Flightline in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic on Sept. 3 at Del Mar.

“He was just tired, that’s all,” Moger said. 

Stilleto Boy has worked twice in recent weeks at Golden Gate Fields, going a half-mile in 37.60 seconds on Saturday in his most recent work.