Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Mystic Guide, Mott runners can fill void in older division
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – While Godolphinowned runners Maxfield and Essential Quality will be retired to stud in 2022, the global racing enterprise could still have some significant firepower in the older male dirt division next year.
Mystic Guide, who won the Dubai World Cup in March but who in July was sidelined with a chip in his right knee, has been in light training for a month at Keeneland. Trainer Michael Stidham said he is expected to receive the horse back at his Fair Grounds barn on Wednesday and continue training to what is hoped to be a repeat bid at the Dubai World Cup next March with a potential prep at Fair Grounds beforehand.
Meanwhile, Speaker’s Corner, trained by Bill Mott for Godolphin, rebounded from a sixth-place finish in the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby with a 6 3/4-length victory in a second-level allowance race on Oct. 29 at Belmont. He ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:41.83 and earned a gaudy 109 Beyer Speed Figure.
Mott said it’s his intention to run Speaker’s Corner, a son of Street Sense, in the $150,000 Discovery Stakes on Nov. 27 at Aqueduct to find out if 1 1/8 miles is within his scope.
“That’s something we want to learn,” Mott, who won last year’s Discovery with Forza Di Oro, said Friday. “Looks like the one-turn races have been pretty good. He was quite inexperienced when we went down to Parx, second time out [this year], with a good group, kind of got buried down inside. I think, for the most part, we’re willing to throw that race out. If we run him two turns, that would help us make our plans for next year.”
Mott has others in the older male dirt division for 2022.
Mott is pointing Olympiad, winner of a seven-furlong, first-level allowance race on Oct. 14 at Keeneland, to the Grade 1 Cigar Mile on Dec. 4 at Aqueduct. Olympiad is owned by Grandview Equine, Cheyenne Stable, and LNJ Foxwoods.
Art Collector, who ran sixth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic; War Like Goddess, third in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf; and others Mott ran at the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar are bedded down at Payson Park in Florida getting a break.
Mott said there are no concrete plans for Art Collector, who won the Grade 1 Woodward as part of a three-race winning streak before the Classic, other than he will race as a 5-year-old.
“He’s only going to be 5 and is lightly raced,” Mott said of Art Collector, adding that owner Bruce Lunsford “wants to keep going. He enjoys racing, he’s a sportsman, and wants to keep it going for a little while.”
War Like Goddess, who made a bit of an early move under Julien Leparoux when ultimately finishing third in the BC Filly and Mare Turf, could be considered for European travel in 2022, Mott said, though nothing is etched in stone.
“Those are things we can talk about a little later,” Mott said. “She’s probably entitled to a little bit of a rest and we’ll focus on some of the better races in America. As time goes on, we’ll discuss those other spots. It’s five months until Dubai.”
War Like Goddess had won three graded races in 2021, including the Grade 1 Flower Bowl, before getting beat by Loves Only You in the Breeders’ Cup.
McCarthy nears riding return
Joe Migliore is about to embark on the life of a double agent.
Migliore, who earlier this year left West Point Thoroughbreds to become a bloodstock agent, will add the title of jockey agent to his repertoire. Migliore will represent jockey Trevor McCarthy, who is expected to begin riding at Aqueduct next Thursday after missing the last 11 weeks due to an ankle injury.
Migliore is the son of the former jockeyturned-analyst Richard Migliore and the nephew of Michael Migliore, who is a jockey’s agent representing Dylan Davis.
“I think I know pretty clearly what the job takes and I’ve always looked at it as a job where hard work is rewarded and I think that’s how my father, my uncle, and myself conduct ourselves at the racetrack and take some pride in that,” Migliore said. “It’s something that I think is going to balance very well with my bloodstock career, and I think if anything the two roles will complement each other.”
Last winter, McCarthy had a solid Aqueduct meet winning 39 races from 275 mounts. That was good for fifth in the standings as were his $2.2 million in purse earnings.
McCarthy moved his tack to Southern California for the spring and summer but won just nine races from 156 mounts between Santa Anita, Los Alamitos, and Del Mar. He hasn’t ridden since Aug. 29, having undergone ankle surgery in the interim.
Migliore said McCarthy has been breezing horses in the morning at Belmont for a week or more.
“Tremendously excited about how his return has been received, lots of people looking for us in the mornings, and we’ve been very active in the mornings,” Migliore said. “Excited to build upon the success he had last year before going to California and think that we’ll be able to repeat if not expand that success this winter and beyond.”
Migliore said the goal is for McCarthy to become a year-round New York rider. McCarthy and his wife, jockey Katie Davis, are expecting their first child in midDecember.
Sciacca wins 1,000th race
When Caumsett won Thursday’s first race at Aqueduct, it was the 1,000th career victory for trainer Gary Sciacca.
Sciacca, 61, recorded his first career victory at Aqueduct with Proud Northern on Oct. 21, 1981. He trained Saratoga Dew to win the Eclipse Award as champion 3-yearold filly in 1992, trained two-time Grade 1 winner Subordination, and was a two-time leading trainer at Belmont Park in the 1990s.