Mystic Guide Leads Saturday’s Razorback Field

By Robert Yates —-

Post positions for the rescheduled $600,000 Razorback Handicap (G3) for older horses Saturday at Oaklawn were drawn Tuesday. One horse entered again in the 1 1/16-mile Razorback is the royally bred Mystic Guide, who races for his breeder, Godolphin LLC, and trainer Mike Stidham.

The Razorback is one of three stakes races on Saturday’s card, along with the $750,000 Southwest (G3) for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles and the $200,000 Spring Fever for older female sprinters. The Southwest will mark the 2021 debut of unbeaten Essential Quality, the country’s champion 2-year-old male. Racing begins at 12:15 p.m. (Central), with probable post time for the Razorback, which goes as the seventh of 11 races, 3:20 p.m.

The Razorback was originally scheduled to be run Feb. 13 before fierce winter weather shuttered racing at Oaklawn for two weeks. It will still mark the 4-year-old debut of Mystic Guide, by 2004 Horse of the Year Ghostzapper out of millionaire multiple Grade 1 winner Music Note. Mystic Guide has already built a solid resume in six career starts, winning the $150,000 Jim Dandy Stakes (G2) Sept. 5 at Saratoga before concluding his 2020 campaign with a second-place finish, beaten three-quarters of a length, in the $250,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup Stakes (G1) Oct. 10 at Belmont Park.

“We were delighted with the way his 3-year-old year turned out,” Stidham said. “There were a lot of temptations to run in the Derby and different spots and the timing just wasn’t right. It just seemed like he needed a little bit more time, so we kept being real patient with him and let him develop. As he developed and those other races showed up, we always felt like a mile and an eighth and farther was going to be helpful to him. Turned out great. He won a Grade 2 and placed in a Grade 1 as a 3-year-old, so now we’re hoping for an even better 4-year-old year.”

Mystic Guide has recorded a series of sharp workouts at Fair Grounds leading up to his 2021 debut. Stidham said he chose to start Mystic Guide’s 2021 campaign in the Razorback because unbeaten Maxfield, another Godolphin homebred, was being pointed to the $200,000 Mineshaft Stakes (G3) Feb. 13 at Fair Grounds.

“With Maxfield also being at being at the Fair Grounds, they didn’t want to run them against each other,” Stidham said of Godolphin. “It was decided that Maxfield was going to stay here and we would go to Oaklawn. That was how it all worked out.”

Maxfield moved to 5 for 5 with a 3 ¼-length victory in the Mineshaft, which marked his 4-year-old debut. Mystic Guide will have a chance to complete the Godolphin older horse stakes double in the Razorback, a major local prep for the $1 million Oaklawn Handicap (G2) April 17.

Mystic Guide was the 3-1 second choice in the program after the race was originally drawn. Mystic Guide was among seven horses entered Tuesday, the others being Silver Prospector, Hunka Burning Love, Mailman Money, Owendale, Rated R Superstar and Long Range Toddy.

Stidham has 19 career victories at Oaklawn, with almost one-third (six) coming in stakes events. Stidham won the $250,000 Fantasy (G2) for 3-year-old fillies in 1994 with Two Altazano, 1999 Razorback with Desert Air and four more stakes with crack Arkansas-bred sprinter Comedero, including the $60,000 Mountain Valley in open company in 2010.

“Most of the time when we make the ship, it’s usually for a stakes, so we probably have run in more stakes than anything there,” Stidham said. “We hope our success continues.”

The Southwest, Oaklawn’s second of four Kentucky Derby points races, drew a field of seven. In addition to Essential Quality and multiple Grade 1 winner Jackie’s Warrior, Saffa’s Day, Last Samurai, Santa Cruiser, Woodhouse and Spielberg are also entered.

Oaklawn stakes winners Amy’s Challenge and Kimari are among nine horses entered in the 5 1/2-furlong Spring Fever. Also entered are Cashcheckorcharge, Sunny Dale, Casual, Headland, Ain’t No Elmers, Shesomajestic and Best Kept Secret.

Probable post time for the Spring Fever, race 8, is 3:52 p.m. Probable post time for the Southwest, race 10, is 4:58 p.m.

Keepmeinmind to the Rebel

Keepmeinmind will make his 3-year-old debut in the $1 million Rebel Stakes (G2) March 13 at Oaklawn, trainer Robertino Diodoro said Tuesday morning.

Keepmeinmind had been scheduled to make his 2021 debut Feb. 15, in the $750,000 Southwest Stakes (G3), before severe winter weather led to multiple postponements and interrupted the late-running colt’s training schedule. The Southwest, Oaklawn’s second of four Kentucky Derby points races, will now be run Saturday.

“Can’t run in both,” Diodoro said. “Eleven days – I don’t know. I don’t want to go into a race thinking. I want to go into a race knowing. Going into this race, I’m thinking he’s going to be just fine. I don’t want to go over there thinking. I want to go over there 100 percent.”

Oaklawn lost 11 days of training (Feb. 12-Monday) after arctic temperatures and heavy snowfall blanketed the state last week. Diodoro said he considered shipping Keepmeinmind to Delta Downs or Sam Houston to train, but winter weather last week made both venues “just as bad as us.”

“Just jogged him in here,” Diodoro said, pointing to his American Pharoah barn. “Actually, I think it did him some good. Filled out his a** end a little bit in 10 days. It’s crazy. If you ever watch him jog in here, it’s nuts. Feels like a hundred miles and hour. Like a dressage horse, which is crazy. We gave him one day off. Other than that, he jogged every day.”

Unraced since a last-to-first victory in the $200,000 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2) Nov. 28 at Churchill Downs, Keepmeinmind has recorded six published workout this year at Oaklawn, the last an easy half-mile in :49.60 Feb. 8. Keepmeinmind has been based at Oaklawn since late December.

“Again, going over there with his running style, I would be confident and I would think everything will be fine,” Diodoro said. “I don’t want to over there thinking. I want to go over there knowing.”

Prior to breaking his maiden in the Kentucky Jockey Club, Keepmeinmind finished second in the $400,000 Breeders’ Futurity (G1) Oct. 3 at Keeneland and third in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) Nov. 6 at Keeneland. Keepmeinmind returned to the track Tuesday morning, galloping after the first surface renovation break. Diodoro said he believes he could get two works into Keepmeinmind before the Rebel.

The 1 1/16-mile Rebel will offer 85 points (50-20-10-5, respectively) to the top four finishers toward starting eligibility for the Kentucky Derby. Keepmeinmind ranks fifth on the Kentucky Derby points leaderboard with 18, according to Churchill Downs.

The Rebel is the final major local prep for the $1 million Arkansas Derby (G1) April 10.