Trainer Chantal Mitchell has developed into a serious contender in Ontario harness racing over the last two seasons — even with less than 500 starts to her credit since the beginning of 2019. And, with any luck, she'll be able to continue her current trajectory in 2021 with the help of a promising young pacer.
Mitchell won a career best 44 races from 253 starts in 2019, and then followed it up in 2020 with another high water mark: $961,670 in purse earnings from just 209 trips to the starting gate. While not a major contributor to Mitchell's numbers last season, the now three-year-old Control Heaven has the potential to be a big player in the year to come — and to land his trainer's name in the headlines.
Not bad for a colt that Mitchell decided to purchase, essentially, on a whim:
"I went to a particular consignor to look at another colt by the same sire: Control The Moment," Mitchell told the Hamilton (Ont.) Spectator. "It was that sire’s first crop of yearlings and like many people, I was not too enthused. His sire, Well Said, had been a disappointment. I’d had two, did not like them, and was not intending to follow that road."
While Control Heaven was not among the yearlings Mitchell initially sought out to purchase in Harrisburg, he stood out enough to warrant a modest investment.
"I knew the family and had looked at his two older sisters, who were very small, but he looked like his father — a big, dark and handsome sort," she explained further. "Finally, I decided I would go to $20,000 on him. That was my limit so that if he did not work out, it would not be too painful a loss."
Mitchell partnered up with Ken Solomon and one of Control Heaven's breeders, Doug Millard, to acquire Control Heaven for that exact price. And as it turns out, the son of Control The Moment out of Somewhereinheaven has done pretty well for himself, so far. In his rookie season, he amassed $55,431 in just six starts, establishing his mark of 1:53 in his first ever race, a maiden event for two-year-olds at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
And through five starts after his winning debut, he held his own against Ontario's brightest, earning minor placings in an Ontario Sires Stakes Gold event and the Champlain Stakes before a seventh-place finish in the $720,000 Metro Pace at the end of September.
So far, Control Heaven has become the most decorated of Somewhereinheaven's three offspring to hit the racetrack, and he has the potential to blossom as a three-year-old. Still, Mitchell is keeping her expectations in check, even given the massive potential the gelding has demonstrated ... but she is optimistic about his future, to be sure.
"We did keep him paid into the big races this year, but to be truthful, if he is a nice OSS Gold horse, I would be ecstatic," she said. "But there always is that chance that he could take a big jump. He has the right attitude, and physically, he looks the part."