Mystic Guide starts march toward Pegasus World Cup

Mystic Guide is back on the work tab as his connections plot a path to the Pegasus World Cup Invitational. The progressive 3-year-old colt, trained by Mike Stidham for Godophin, worked a half mile in 48.80 seconds on Tuesday at Fair Grounds, his first breeze following a short fall freshening.

Mystic Guide’s most recent start came Oct. 10, when he finished second to fellow 3-year-old Happy Saver in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup, after which Stidham lightened up on the colt’s training before a push toward his 4-year-old campaign.

“We gave him light gallops every other day for a while,” Stidham said. “He’s back to serious training with this work.”

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Mystic Guide, by Ghostzapper out of Music Note, began his career late last winter at Fair Grounds and improved throughout the year, increasing his Beyer Speed Figure in each of the five starts following a debut second at a sprint distance short of his best. After a third-place finish in the Peter Pan, Stidham added blinkers and Mystic Guide won the Grade 2 Jim Dandy at Saratoga. He capped his campaign going 1 1/4 miles for the first time in the Jockey Club Gold Cup.

It’s not just the 3-year-old form that has prompted Stidham to aim Mystic Guide toward the Jan. 23 Pegasus at Gulfstream, but also the notion he still wasn’t a fully formed product even this autumn and could be set for a superior 4-year-old season.

“Other than Tiz the Law, most of the really top horses have been retired to stud, or whatever, so we felt it was worth looking at,” Stidham said. “As a 3-year-old, he was always a step or two behind where he needed to be to run in the very top races, but we hope now he can. I see him going in that direction.”

Thursday at Fair Grounds, Stidham sent out debut winners in consecutive maiden special weight races. Louisianalightning, a 3-year-old colt, won a statebred-restricted dirt sprint, and Doc Girl captured a 2-year-old filly turf sprint. Louisianalightning clocked 1:11.08 for six furlongs while winning by more than five lengths after breaking from the rail and going to the front under Florent Geroux. This looked like a Louisiana-bred with more than standard talent, and Stidham confirmed the stable has been high on the horse.

“It was a nightmare with him,” Stidham said. “We bought him in a 2-year-old in training sale and it looked like he would make the races easily, but he had the beginning of what looked like a tendon, so we stopped. This summer, we liked him enough we were going to run him at Belmont, and on entry day he chipped a knee. It was a long road, but we finally got him there.”

Doc Girl, a sister to the Stidham-trained turf-stakes winner Doc Boy, scored a front-running 1 1/2-length victory, also under Geroux. Stidham described the filly as being “built like a tank,” and the plan for now is to run back in turf-sprint allowance race.