Mystic Guide has Jockey Club Gold Cup on agenda

ELMONT, N.Y. – Mystic Guide, winner of the Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga on Sept. 5, will most likely bypass Saturday’s Preakness Stakes and make his next start in the Grade 1, $250,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park on Oct. 10, trainer Mike Stidham said Friday.

“Right now, I’d say we’re leaning strongly toward the Jockey Club,” Stidham said. “Reason being a little more distance we think is going to help the horse. I don’t think Pimlico necessarily suits my horse’s style. I think he’s better on a track like Belmont. The big, sweeping turns I just think is a better fit for him.”

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The Jockey Club Gold Cup is run at 1 1/4 miles, while the Preakness is 1 3/16 miles.

In his only start at Belmont, Mystic Guide finished second behind Tap It to Win in a 1 1/16-mile allowance race run in a very fast 1:39.76. Since then, Mystic Gide has finished third in the Peter Pan and won the Jim Dandy with blinkers added.

The Jockey Club Gold Cup is not expected to draw a large field. Among the older horses pointing to it are Tacitus, the Grade 2 Suburban winner and Grade 1 Woodward runner-up, and Prioritize, the third-place finisher in the Woodward.

Next Saturday, Stidham is planning to run Pixelate in the Grade 1, $250,000 Belmont Derby Invitational for 3-year-olds at 1 1/4 miles on turf. Pixelate is coming off a head victory in the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby on Sept. 6.

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Pixelate has run six times this year, at five different tracks. Last year, he finished second in the Awad Stakes at Belmont.

“He’s run at so many different racetracks, anything you throw at him he just handles it,” Stidham said. “He’s a pretty cool horse. He seems to take whatever.”

The Belmont Derby is likely to draw a large field that could include Ajourneytofreedom, City Man, Domestic Spending, Farmington Road, Gufo, Moon Over Miami, No Word, Pixelate, South Bend, and Venezuelan Hug.

The Belmont Derby offers a fees-paid berth into the Breeders’ Cup Turf on Nov. 7 at Keeneland.