Mystic Guide couldn’t be better for shot at World Cup

Late March 2020 and Fair Grounds Racecourse in New Orleans had ended its race meet early as COVID-19 swept across the land. Trainer Mike Stidham got most of his stable out before the end of the month, but he and his longtime top assistant, Hilary Pridham, stayed behind to look after six horses. One named Mystic Guide was the reason they remained. Mystic Guide had finished second in his sprint debut and won a maiden route race by five lengths on March 21.

“We knew he was a very, very good horse. That’s why we hung around, with the idea of taking him to the Arkansas Derby,” Pridham recalled during a recent Fair Grounds conversation with her and Stidham.

Eventually, Oaklawn decided no Fair Grounds horses would be permitted to ship for the Arkansas Derby. Stidham, Pridham, and the remaining stock decamped to Stidham’s summer base, the Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland.

But Stidham and his team were right – Mystic Guide is a very, very good horse. Finally, this past Feb. 27, Mystic Guide made it to Oaklawn, winning the Razorback Handicap with such style that he has made a much longer journey to start in the Dubai World Cup on Saturday night at Meydan Racecourse.

Mystic Guide isn’t just starting, he’s starting as the likely favorite in the Group 1, $12 million World Cup, the last of nine races on a spectator-free World Cup program.

While Mystic Guide has traveled a long way to Dubai, his owner Godolphin, is a local, the global breeding and racing power headed by Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum, ruler of Dubai. Sheikh Mohammed’s brother, Sheikh Hamdan al Maktoum, died earlier this week at 75, and the emirate remains in a period of official mourning. The 2020 World Cup was canceled days before the event because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Luis Saez, aboard for the first time in the Razorback, has a return call on Mystic Guide, who breaks from post 6 facing 13 rivals in this race around two turns over 2,000 meters, about 1 1/4 miles. Stidham picked a good year for his Dubai debut: The World Cup drew a lot of horses, but not a lot of proven toplevel dirt horses – none, really. Mystic Guide on Thursday was as low as 2-1 with English bookmakers, despite never having won a Grade 1. He’s one of four American entrants along with Jesus’ Team, who has gotten plenty of fixed-odds wagering support, Sleepy Eyes Todd, and Title Ready.

Post time for the World Cup is set for 12:50 p.m. Eastern, with live video and wagering available at DRFBets.com. Americans for the first time will be betting the World Cup card into global pools hosted by the Hong Kong Jockey Club. The program starts at 7:45 a.m. Eastern with an Arabian race, followed by eight Thoroughbred contests, and until the sun goes down it’s going to be hot, Saturday’s high is forecast to hit 96 degrees. The card includes four other Group 1s – the Sheema Classic, Dubai Turf, and Al Quoz on grass, and the Golden Shaheen on dirt.

It wasn’t until Stidham added blinkers that Mystic Guide hit peak form, winning the Jim Dandy at Saratoga before finishing second, beaten less than one length, in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup. Mystic Guide never left Stidham’s stable over the winter and might have made the Pegasus World Cup in January but for a relatively minor virus that cost him December training time. The Razorback, his 4-year-old debut, became a pivotal race, and when he won by six lengths, earning a career-best 108 Beyer Speed Figure, Mystic Guide punched his ticket to Dubai. Mystic Guide did romp at Oaklawn, but he also rode the crest of a sloppy track, the best part of the surface that card, and must avoid regressing after a powerful comeback victory and a long journey.

Jesus’ Team is unproven over 1 1/4 miles and looks shaky at the distance but does bring strong form to Dubai, having finished second to Knicks Go in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile and in the Jan. 23 Pegasus over a sharp 1 1/8 miles at Gulfstream. He breaks from post 9 with Joel Rosario riding for the first time and ought to be prominent from the start.

“He is doing perfectly,” trainer Jose D’Angelo said Wednesday. “We went to the starting gate today with him, and he looked very professional, very focused, not nervous. I like what I see.”

Mystic Guide, Jesus’ Team, and Title Ready flew to Dubai on March 23, with Title Ready set to race for the first time since winning the Louisiana Stakes on Jan. 16, his first graded stakes score. Sleepy Eyes Todd has been in Dubai since shortly after finishing fifth in the Saudi Cup on Feb. 20. Another horse unproven at a distance this long, Sleepy Eyes Todd had a terrible trip in the Saudi Cup, and early in the Pegasus, where he rallied for fourth, he was steadied, losing precious position.

“I’ve been saying this a lot; we just need to get some racing luck,” said trainer Miguel Angel Silva, who hopes to see Sleepy Eyes Todd and jockey Alexis Moreno, who rode in Saudi Arabia, stalking the pace.

Great Scot is the top finisher here exiting the Saudi Cup, beating out Knicks Go for third behind Mishriff and Charlatan. The Saudi-based 5-year-old made his first 11 starts on European turf, ran dismally in the 2020 Saudi Cup, but came into last month’s race with three easy dirt wins over one mile. His last performance might be a true measure.

Godolphin has two other runners, Gifts of Gold, who showed little in his lone dirt start, and Magny Cours, who makes his dirt debut. Magny Cours drew poorly in post 12 but still merits attention for French trainer Andre Fabre. The Godolphin homebred is a 6-year-old and has managed just eight starts, none above Group 3, but he is 3 for 3 racing on synthetic surfaces, and as a son of Medaglia d’Oro and the A.P. Indy mare, A.P. Five Hundred, Magny Cours’s pedigree leans dirt. He rejoined Fabre’s stable in December following an injury and won well, with an energetic gallopout, in a March 2 tune-up at Chantilly.

Chuwa Wizard is a 10-time dirt winner in Japan but got nothing in Saudi Arabia, breaking from the rail and never coming close to contention. Military Law won Round 1 of the Al Maktoum Challenge before finishing sixth in the Saudi Cup and isn’t without a bomber’s chance Saturday, while Salute the Soldier, third in Round 1, came back to capture Rounds 2 and 3 of the Al Maktoum Challenge, a seemingly soft series this winter. At least as interesting as those two is Ajuste Fiscal, who improved from fifth in Round 2 of the Al Maktoum Challenge to third in Round 3, and who has Group 1 dirt wins over 1 1/4 and 1 1/2 miles in his native Uruguay, where he was Horse of the Year in 2019.