Mindframe Up in Time in Churchill Downs Stakes Thriller

May 2-3 was a weekend of highs and lows for Mike Repole. Friday morning, the owner's Grande was scratched out of the Kentucky Derby (G1) with a minor foot issue, making it the second time in three years Repole has had a horse withdrawn from the Run for the Roses at the final hour. To ebb the sting, two of Repole's top 3-year-old stars from last year returned in resounding fashion Derby weekend; first with Fierceness in yesterday's Alysheba Stakes (G2), and again with Mindframe in the $1 million Churchill Downs Stakes (G1). Fortune smiled upon those racing fans who braved the bleak afternoon rain showers on the first Saturday in May, as they were firsthand witnesses to the most thrilling race under the twin spires since last year's Derby finish. Racing so wide he was off the television screen, Mindframe exploded into the frame only 100 yards from the wire, prevailing by a neck for his first grade 1 victory. If only the Netflix cameras had caught that one. Repole was featured prominently in the recently released Netflix series "Race for the Crown." Both Fierceness and Mindframe, who Repole co-owns with St. Elias Stables, appeared in the six-episode series. The Churchill Downs Stakes was the fulfillment of the potential Mindframe had consistently shown time and time again in his six outings at the track. Dominant in his first two starts as a 3-year-old, the son of Constitution raised the bar in his next two races, placing twice at the grade 1 level in the Belmont (G1) and Haskell (G1) stakes. Given a lengthy freshening, he returned in March with a workmanlike score in the Gulfstream Park Mile Stakes (G2). The Churchill Downs was the colt's first time shortening up to seven furlongs since his debut win. "Man, he put in a heckuva run down the lane," trainer Todd Pletcher said of Mindframe. "He's such a versatile, top-class horse. He can show up today going seven-eighths; he just missed in the Belmont last year in the third start of his career. He can do just about anything." Racing far off Giant Mischief's hot early pace of :22.56 and :45.12, Mindframe took the slop and kickback in stride, rallying seven wide turning for home as a five-way throw down transpired at the top of the stretch. Mullikin, making his season debut for the Rodolphe Brisset barn, narrowly held an advantage into the straightaway as New Jersey-bred Book'em Danno headed the son of Violence in a duel between grade 1 winners. Meanwhile, David Jacobson-trained Banishing cut sharply to the inside and joined the fray with a bold move up the rail while race favorite and comebacking Nysos loomed dangerously down the center of the track. Then, in dramatic Hollywood fashion, came the late-rallying Mindrame and Irad Ortiz Jr. to beat them all. "My horse was so game today," Ortiz said. "He had so many horses to the inside of him that he just had to keep fighting the entire way to the wire. He does not want to lose and kept finding more the more challenges he got." Nysos and Banishing finished in a dead heat for second with Book'em Danno another head behind in fourth. "He ran great," jockey Flavien Prat said of Nysos, who lost for the first time in four starts for trainer Bob Baffert. "I thought the hardest part was done, but then Mindframe came on the outside and nailed us. It was a good run and he hasn't run for over a year." Mullikin faded to fifth, a length behind the four-way photo. Mindframe ($9.08) completed the seven furlongs in 1:22.64 over a sloppy (sealed) track. Bred in Maryland by the late Larry Johnson, Mindframe is one of four winners and the sole stakes winner produced from the Street Sense mare Walk of Stars. Mindframe, now a millionaire with his Churchill Downs Stakes score, was purchased by Repole and St. Elias Stable for $600,000 at the 2022 Keeneland September Yearling Sale out of the Betz Thoroughbreds consignment. Mindframe became the third North American grade 1 winner for Constitution, who stands at WinStar Farm near Versailles, Ky., for $110,000.