The Pizza Man distance will make Another Mystery work

It’s no mystery Another Mystery wants to run longer than 1 1/16 miles, but the long and short of it is he still is the most likely winner of the $75,000 The Pizza Man Stakes on Saturday at Hawthorne.

A dyed-in-the-wool 1 1/2-mile horse, Another Mystery has too much class for these Illinois-bred turf-route rivals. In June, he won the Black Tie Affair, his Hawthorne debut, in a very similar spot, and while the margin there was merely a half-length, Another Mystery was closing that day into a relatively tepid tempo. Saturday, his connections are taking no chance that The Pizza Man won’t unfold at a fair pace, entering Power Through, a confirmed front-runner, to ensure honest fractions.

Another Mystery was entered to race Friday at Keeneland in the Sycamore Stakes, a tough 1 1/2-mile contest. But with the Hawthorne course expected to dry by Saturday after taking a considerable amount of rain earlier in the week, Chris Block, who trains Another Mystery for his breeders, Team Block, said Hawthorne-based Another Mystery almost certainly stays home.

“It was all dependent on weather here and the rain moved out,” Block said Wednesday afternoon. “I love running him a mile and a half, and he’d be right there in the mix in the Sycamore. My concern here is he takes a while to get geared up and get going, but at Hawthorne, with that long stretch, that’s the reason we’re running here.”

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By Temple City out of the Lord at War mare Ioya Two, Another Mystery has already put together a fine season that began with a dead-heat win Jan. 30 in the Grade 3 John B. Connally Turf Cup at Sam Houston. Another Mystery was second to Channel Maker in the Elkhorn in April at Keeneland, second to Red Knight in the Grade 3 Colonial Cup, and third, beaten a neck and a nose by Red Knight and Gufo, on Sept. 10 in the rich Grade 2 Turf Cup at Kentucky Downs. All those races came over 1 1/2 miles, and Another Mystery simply isn’t as effective at Saturday’s trip, but with Power Through and Readthecliffnotes on the lead and Temper Tantrum pressing, there should be enough pace that Another Mystery can pick off tiring horses.

Readthecliffnotes won the 2021 renewal of this race when The Pizza Man was rained off turf. He hasn’t started since and runs Saturday regardless of surface.

“He’s not up to the caliber of some of those grass horses, but he needs to race,” trainer Michele Boyce said.

Temper Tantrum should be Another Mystery’s chief challenger. The latter gives the former seven pounds Saturday, just like Another Mystery did when he beat Temper Tantrum a half-length in the Black Tie Affair.

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