Mystic Guide to return in Suburban; Proxy to Ohio Derby

Mystic Guide, rated the best older dirt horse in the world off wins this year in the Razorback at Oaklawn and in the Dubai World Cup, which he won by almost four lengths, is thriving as he prepares to return to racing July 3 at Belmont in the $400,000 Suburban.

On June 13 at Fair Hill, Mystic Guide put in a strong five-furlong drill with a powerful gallop-out working in company with 3-year-old Proxy. The pair was timed in 1:00.20 with Mystic Guide cruising smoothly out close to another quarter-mile.

“That was one of his ‘A’ works,” said Michael Stidham, who trains both horses for Godolphin. “Proxy never has really been a good work horse, but he worked pretty well, too. Mystic Guide, his gallop-out was huge.”

Mystic Guide got a break after his Dubai trip, returning to the work tab on May 8,. Sunday’s work was his fifth this spring.

Stidham said he plans to work the 4-year-old colt twice more before his race, with one more fairly serious drill followed by a maintenance breeze into the 1 1/4-mile Suburban.

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“I wish the race were sooner because he’s right where I want him,” Stidham said. “He’s really good right now, really healthy and happy, mentally hard to handle right now. He’s touting the barn pretty heavily.”

Proxy hasn’t started since finishing fourth at odds just short of 5-2 in the Lexington Stakes on April 10 at Keeneland. Proxy ran through the Fair Grounds series of dirt-route stakes for 3-year-olds this winter and showed signs of being a high-level performer, but has so far generally been unable to fully translate his physical ability to race performance. He made his last two starts in blinkers but won’t wear them, Stidham said, when he races June 26 at Thistledown in the $500,000 Ohio Derby, though Stidham said he’s considering racing Proxy in cheek pieces.

“Hopefully he’s grown up and put his whole act together,” Stidham said.