Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Mystic Guide to get a breather
Mystic Guide came out of his Dubai World Cup win in good shape, heads back to the U.S. with the rest of the American shippers this week, and will be pointed toward a late summer and fall campaign, trainer Mike Stidham said Monday.
Mystic Guide won the $12 million World Cup on Saturday at Meydan by 3 3/4 lengths while racing for the first time without Lasix and running back one month after posting a career-peak performance in the Razorback Handicap, his first start in more than four months. Those circumstances combined with global travel created conditions that easily could have produced regression, but if Mystic Guide took a step back in Dubai, he still was much the best.
Making matters worse, the parade ring, where the riders mount their horses before the post parade, turned chaotic after Great Scot got loose and ran off around the Meydan track. Mystic Guide can get hotblooded even under normal circumstances.
“He started to get really upset after the horse got loose,” said Stidham. In the end, Mystic Guide got great position and an ideal trip under Luis Saez and was much the best as Stidham’s first international runner.
After 48 hours quarantine in Chicago, Mystic Guide will go to Stidham’s string at Keeneland. No one will be in a rush to get him back to serious business.
“The Whitney, the Pacific Classic – those are the spots we’ll be focusing on,” said Stidham, who trains Mystic Guide for his breeder, Godolphin.
Mystic Guide, who got a 129 Timeform rating, best on the Saturday card, was one of two American-trained winners on the World Cup program. The other was 8-yearold Extravagant Kid, who captured the Group 1 Al Quoz Sprint. Trainer Brendan Walsh, who didn’t travel to Dubai, said Extravagant Kid had traveled exceptionally well and came out of the Al Quoz in similar fashion.
“They sent me a video of him, and he had his head over the [stall] door like he had never run,” Walsh said.
Plans are open for Extravagant Kid, who won in his first try racing down a straight course. That success could lead Walsh and owner David Ross to think about a trip to Royal Ascot, which has two prominent straight course sprints, but Walsh said no plans would be made until Extravagant Kid had gotten back home and could be properly assessed in coming weeks.
Mishriff, who had won the Saudi Cup over about 1 1/8 miles on dirt in February, captured the Sheema Classic over 1 1/2 miles on turf, a performance that has enhanced his candidacy for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe over the same trip in October. Trainer John Gosden suggested a trip to the Breeders’ Cup Classic might not be in the cards for Mishriff while mentioning the King George VI, the Juddmonte International, and the Eclipse Stakes as summer options for the remarkably versatile Mishriff.
Lord North became Gosden’s second Group 1 turf winner on the night by winning the Dubai Turf. Lord North won the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot in 2020 and will be aimed toward a second win in that race.
Rebel’s Romance has a spot in the Kentucky Derby after earning 100 qualifying points winning the UAE Derby, but no plans have yet been set for the colt, whose owner, Godolphin, already has Derby favorite Essential Quality as well as Prevalence, who races next in the Wood Memorial.