Frankel had been contemplating running last year’s Oak Tree Mile (gr. IIT) and American Handicap (gr. IIT) winner Out of Control against Big Brown in the $500,000 Monmouth Stakes, but now may run the Brazilian-bred in Saturday’s Woodward against Curlin and go with the dual graded stakes winner Proudinsky at Monmouth.
Although Out of Control has run only twice on dirt in his 15-race career, he has a win and a third, and Frankel had been planning on running him in the Pacific Classic, but the 5-year-old son of Vettori had some mucus in his lungs and wasn’t entered.
“He’s training so well I want to run him somewhere, and I haven’t heard anything about that Monmouth race,” Frankel said. “I’ll wait for the Woodward entries and see what it looks like. If he doesn’t run there, I could go in the Monmouth race with him or Proudinsky. (Curlin and Big Brown) are both good horses, but how good they are I don’t know. If I get some soft turf on Big Brown’s day, Proudinsky loves it.”
Out of Control, owned and bred by Stud TNT, has not run since June 7, when he was second, beaten a nose, in the grade I Manhattan Handicap at
In his second start for Frankel, Out of Control won a one-mile allowance race at Santa Anita on Feb. 23, 2007. On March 30, he finished third, beaten two lengths, in a 1 1/16-mile allowance race. Since then, he has run in nine consecutive turf races.
Proudinsky, a German-bred son of Silvano, owned by Gary Tanaka, has scored victories in this year’s Mervin Muniz Jr. Memorial Handicap (gr. IIT) at Fair Grounds and the 2006 Bay Meadows Derby (gr. IIIT). He has placed in the grade I Citation Handicap, grade II