Stidham, Mott runners could bolster older horse division
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – While Godolphin-owned runners Maxfield and Essential Quality will be retired to stud in 2022, the global racing enterprise could still have some significant firepower in the older male dirt division next year.
Mystic Guide, who won the Dubai World Cup in March but who in July was sidelined with a chip in his right knee, has been in light training for a month at Keeneland. Trainer Michael Stidham said he is expected to receive the horse back at his Fair Grounds barn on Wednesday and continue training to what is hoped to be a repeat bid at the Dubai World Cup next March with a potential prep at Fair Grounds beforehand.
Meanwhile, Speaker's Corner, trained by Bill Mott for Godolphin, rebounded from a sixth-place finish in the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby with a 6 3/4-length victory in a second-level allowance race on Oct. 29 at Belmont. He ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:41.83 and earned a gaudy 109 Beyer Speed Figure.
Mott said it’s his intention to run Speaker’s Corner, a son of Street Sense, in the $150,000 Discovery Stakes on Nov. 27 at Aqueduct to find out if 1 1/8 miles is within his scope.
“That’s something we want to learn,” Mott, who won last year’s Discovery with Forza Di Oro, said Friday. “Looks like the one-turn races have been pretty good. He was quite inexperienced when we went down to Parx, second time out [this year], with a good group, kind of got buried down inside. I think, for the most part, we’re willing to throw that race out. If we run him two turns, that would help us make our plans for next year.”
Mott has others in the older male dirt division for 2022.
Mott is pointing Olympiad, winner of a seven-furlong, first-level allowance race on Oct. 14 at Keeneland, to the Grade 1 Cigar Mile on Dec. 4 at Aqueduct. Olympiad is owned by Grandview Equine, Cheyenne Stable, and LNJ Foxwoods.
Art Collector, who ran sixth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic; War Like Goddess, third in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf; and others Mott ran at the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar are bedded down at Payson Park in Florida getting a break.
Mott said there are no concrete plans for Art Collector, who won the Grade 1 Woodward as part of a three-race winning streak before the Classic, other than he will race as a 5-year-old.
“He’s only going to be 5 and is lightly raced,” Mott said of Art Collector, adding that owner Bruce Lunsford “wants to keep going. He enjoys racing, he’s a sportsman and wants to keep it going for a little while.”
War Like Goddess, who made a bit of an early move under Julien Leparoux when ultimately finishing third in the BC Filly and Mare Turf, could be considered for European travel in 2022, Mott said, though nothing is etched in stone.
“Those are things we can talk about a little later,” Mott said. “She’s probably entitled to a little bit of a rest and we’ll focus on some of the better races in America. As time goes on, we’ll discuss those other spots. It’s five months until Dubai.”
War Like Goddess had won three graded races in 2021, including the Grade 1 Flower Bowl, before getting beat by Loves Only You in the Breeders’ Cup.