Hollywood Park: Puype making stakes plans for Calidoscopio, Mizdirection

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – After mixed results at Belmont Park last weekend, 2012 Breeders’ Cup race winners Calidoscopio and Mizdirection will head to Del Mar later this summer.

Trainer Mike Puype has tentative plans for Calidoscopio, who won the Grade 2 Brooklyn Handicap last Friday, and Mizdirection, who finished fifth in the Grade 1 Just a Game Stakes on Saturday.

Calidoscopio, winner of the BC Marathon last November, is a candidate for the $100,000 Cougar II Handicap over 1 1/2 miles on the synthetic main track July 26. A 10-year-old, Calidoscopio has never raced on a synthetic track and would need to train well at Del Mar to run in the Cougar II, Puype said.

“I won’t know whether he likes it until I can get him down there and work him,” he said.

An alternative race is the $200,000 Greenwood Cup over 1 1/2 miles on dirt at Parx Racing on Sept. 2 “if I can make good transportation arrangements,” Puype said.

The BC Marathon is a long-term goal for Calidoscopio.

Mizdirection won the BC Turf Sprint against males last November, and the same race is in the plans this fall. In the Just a Game Stakes, Mizdirection led for the first six furlongs of the race over a mile, but faded to finish 8 1/4 lengths behind winner Stephanie’s Kitten on a yielding turf course.

Puype said before the race that he feared Mizdirection would not like a rain-soaked course.

“I knew I was in trouble,” Puype said. “I’m not making excuses. The distance was not the issue. Her stride was not the same. She didn’t look comfortable to stretch her legs out. It didn’t happen.”

Puype said that Mizdirection will have “one or two more races for sure” before the BC Turf Sprint. One option is the $150,000 Yellow Ribbon Handicap over 1 1/16 miles on turf at Del Mar on Sept. 2.