The $940,000 Stephen Foster Stakes (G1) at Churchill Downs June 28 featured a stellar cast, and the race lived up to the billing as Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable's Mindframe emerged a one-length winner over 2024 champion 3-year-old male Sierra Leone.
The triumph marked a second consecutive victory in grade 1 company for the 4-year-old son of Constitution , who stands the 2025 season at WinStar Farm for $110,000. Mindframe's versatility has been on full display in those efforts, taking the seven-furlong Churchill Downs Stakes (G1) May 3 before adding the 1 1/8-mile triumph Saturday.
"He's so versatile, he can do whatever he wants," said Jacob West, the stallion seasons and bloodstock manager for Claiborne Farm, where the colt will stand stud after his racing career. West has also worked as a bloodstock agent for Repole.
"This opens up so many doors for so many things," West said. "There's nothing you can take away from him: physical, pedigree. ... He's truly unbelievable."
The Maryland-bred trained by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher is out of the stakes-winning Street Sense mare Walk of Stars, who was a homebred for Mindframe's late breeder, Larry Johnson.
The win around one turn in his last start may have also helped to contribute to his victory around two turns Saturday as jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. said it helped him break into contention and get a perfect stalking trip behind First Mission.
"He got that intention from the (Churchill Downs Stakes) and he put me right there on top of the leaders," Ortiz said. "After that, I go with the flow."
Tracking behind fractions of :23.94, :47.94, and 1:11.46, Ortiz gave Mindframe a breather down the backstretch until he felt the early presence of Sierra Leone, last year's Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) winner, on his outside at the three-eighths pole.
"I said, 'Alright, let's start the race right here,'" Ortiz said. "He was there for me. I showed the stick and I got close to (First Mission). He put his head right beside (First Mission) and after that I said, 'Alright let's go,' and he go on. That was nice."
Mindframe took command outside the three-sixteenths pole and fended off the challenges of a still-battling First Mission and 2024 Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Mystik Dan, who was making his patented rail run. Sierra Leone also made a second late move in the lane but settled for second as the clock stopped in 1:47.48. First Mission edged Mystik Dan by a neck for third.
"He ran big, got left a little bit (at the gate), came flying," said Sierra Leone's co-owner Brook Smith. "Mile and a quarter and race over. It's disappointing to finish second, but that's a damn good second."
Mindframe, who paid $5.76 to win as the favorite, is now a perfect 3-for-3 this season and has improved to placing in the exacta in all seven career starts. His lone defeats came last year in the Belmont Stakes (G1) and Haskell Stakes (G1) to Dornoch in just his third and fourth lifetime starts.
In addition, Mindframe improved to a perfect 3-for-3 at Churchill Downs.
"He's such a good horse and he clearly likes Churchill Downs so I think that was a big factor in coming here," said Pletcher's assistant Sophie Green. "Last year he started a bit later than some of the others and we didn't get him going until later in the year, so to come up against these (competitors) is pretty good and to win against them is even better."
As a Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're In event, the Stephen Foster win earned Mindframe an automatic, fees-paid berth to the $7 million Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar Nov. 1. However, his versatility gives him other options on the World Championship weekend as Repole Stables also co-owns Fierceness, who was second in the 1 1/4-mile Classic last year.
"Whether it be the (Breeders' Cup Dirt) Mile, the Sprint, the Classic, he's one of those horses," West said. "Todd said it a little bit ago, he's a generational horse because he's been able to do what he's been able to do throughout his career. You don't have to pigeonhole him into one spot; he'll tell us where he wants to go."
Where Mindframe goes next for racing is yet to be determined, but Green said he will ship back to Pletcher's base at Saratoga Race Course June 29.
