Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Into Mystic, Elle Z resume rivalry in Giant’s Causeway
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Trainer Brendan Walsh’s barn looks to keep the party going after winning one of the world’s marquee turf sprints, the Al Quoz in Dubai with Extravagant Kid two weeks ago. Walsh saddles Into Mystic, a workmate to Extravagant Kid last fall, in the $100,000 Giant’s Causeway for fillies and mares sprinting on the turf Saturday at Keeneland.
The Giant’s Causeway, with a competitive field of 10, and the Grade 3, $150,000 Ben Ali, which has drawn five older horses routing on the dirt, precede the Saturday co-features at Keeneland – the Grade 3, $200,000 Lexington Stakes, which awards Kentucky Derby points, and the Grade 1, $300,000 Jenny Wiley. The Ben Ali, first of the day’s stakes as race 7, kicks off an allstakes pick four.
Into Mystic is the only member of the Giant’s Causeway to sport triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures, earned when tangling with multiple Grade 1 winner Got Stormy last season. Into Mystic posted a 100 Beyer in winning a stakes at Ellis Park on Kentucky Downs Preview Day before finishing third in the Grade 3 Ladies Sprint at Kentucky Downs to Got Stormy, with a 94 Beyer. She ran strongly on the Keeneland course at this 5 1/2-furlong distance to be beaten just a nose by Got Stormy in the Grade 3 Franklin County, earning a 101 Beyer. In the ensuing weeks, Into Mystic worked in company with Extravagant Kid toward a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Keeneland. She was a pace factor through a sizzling opening half of 43.81 seconds before fading to finish 12th, beaten seven lengths. Extravagant Kid was beaten just more than a length while fourth.
More recently, Into Mystic enjoyed a solid winter at Fair Grounds while forming a rivalry with Elle Z, whom she faces again Saturday. Into Mystic was second in the Pan Zareta in December, beaten a length by Elle Z, before turning the tables to win the Nelson J. Menard Memorial over that foe by a length, with a 95 Beyer. In the most recent outing for both, Into Mystic was second to Elle Z in an off-the-turf edition of the Mardi Gras in February.
Elle Z has won three of her last four starts, all for Chris Hartman and regular rider Mitchell Murrill, with the only loss coming to Into Mystic. The filly began that run of solid efforts with an allowance win on the Keeneland turf last fall. She is drawn in post 3 and will be looking to assume her customary spot on the early lead.
“She’s just one dimension,” Murrill said following the Mardi Gras. “She goes out there and gives it 110 percent every time.”
Meanwhile, Into Mystic is drawn in the rail position with Irad Ortiz Jr. in the irons.
“She wants to be about two lengths off the pace and go from there,” Walsh has said. “She went too quick in the Breeders’ Cup, and that was her ultimate undoing.”
Into Mystic’s six most recent turf starts have come on ground rated good or soft, with consistent results, while Elle Z succeeded in a race taken off the turf. Turf condition could come into play for the Giant’s Causeway, as rain fell Thursday in the Lexington area and more was expected race day.
Fellow Giant’s Causeway entrant In Good Spirits spent last season running in races longer than a mile, finishing third in the Grade 3 Regret Stakes behind eventual Grade 1 winner Harvey’s Lil Goil. She cut back to 5 1/2 furlongs for her first start of 2021.
Jakarta also shortens up, most recently finishing fourth after leading early in the Grade 3 Honey Fox going a mile.
A Bit of Both is coming off a win in the offthe-turf Captiva Island at Gulfstream.
Karak, a stakes winner on both turf and synthetic, would be making her first start since last May. She is trained by Wesley Ward.
Compact field for Ben Ali
Silver Dust and Night Ops, both graded stakes winners last season, loom large in the field of five for the Ben Ali.
Silver Dust, also a Grade 3 winner in 2019, crossed the line first in both the Grade 3 Louisiana and Grade 3 Mineshaft early last year. He was disqualified from the Louisiana after testing positive for levamisole.
He ran on well against solid company in Kentucky for Bret Calhoun, finishing third in the Stephen Foster and the Alysheba, both Grade 2 events at Churchill Downs. After finishing 10th in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Keeneland to end his campaign, he finished seventh in an allowance event at Fair Grounds last month in his comeback.
Night Ops won last year’s Essex Handicap at Oaklawn and the Grade 3 Cornhusker Handicap at Prairie Meadows for trainer Brad Cox. He returned from a layoff of more than six months to finish third in the Fifth Season in January at Oaklawn and then third in this March’s edition of the Essex.