Mystic Guide gets okay to pick up the tempo

Mystic Guide, one of the best 4-year-old dirt-route horses of 2021, is gearing up for a 5-year-old campaign in 2022.

A Godolphin homebred trained by Michael Stidham, Mystic Guide gave Stidham the most important win of his long career when he captured the Dubai World Cup this past March. Mystic Guide, who won the Jim Dandy and was second in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup at age 3, made one start following the World Cup, running second in the Suburban on July 5, before being diagnosed with a chipped knee that required surgical repair.

Reached by phone last weekend, Stidham said Mystic Guide had been stabled at Keeneland “doing light stuff” for several weeks, but recently had been examined by noted veterinarian Dr. Larry Bramlage, who gave the colt’s connections the go-ahead to push forward with more serious training. Now with Stidham’s string at Fair Grounds, Mystic Guide, by Ghostzapper, will get on a galloping routine preparing for his first start of 2022.

A rough outline of an early season campaign could have Mystic Guide start once in America before returning to Dubai to try and win the World Cup again.

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“If it works out, that’s what we’ll try to do, but I never look that far ahead,” Stidham said.