Suburban notes: Stidham 'delighted' with favorite Mystic Guide

Godolphin homebred Mystic Guide arrived at Belmont Park early Friday morning ahead of his highly anticipated return in Saturday’s Grade 2, $400,000 Suburban at 10 furlongs for 4-year-olds and up.

Belmont will offer six stakes races over Independence Day weekend which runs through Monday including a pair of Breeders’ Cup "Win and You’re In" qualifiers: the Suburban (Classic) and the $250,000 John A. Nerud (G2, Sprint), which will see 4-year-olds and up contest at seven furlongs Sunday.

The holiday weekend kicks off Saturday with the $100,000 Perfect Sting and continues Sunday with the $100,000 Manila, while the $250,000 Dwyer (G3) anchors a Monday card that also offers the $150,000 Grand Couturier.

Stidham said Mystic Guide has arrived in good order for his first start since capturing the Dubai World Cup (G1) on March 27 at Meydan. The 4-year-old Ghostzapper chestnut, out of the multiple Grade 1-winning A.P. Indy mare Music Note, worked a bullet half-mile in 48.20 seconds Saturday on the Fair Hill dirt in his final preparation.

“He's settled in well this morning and we're going to school him in the paddock today in the third race,” said Stidham. “He had a bullet work on Saturday. We weren’t looking for anything special. It was a comfortable 48 and change and he came out of it in good shape.

“We're delighted that everything is going well with him,” added Stidham. “He's made a good transition from Dubai and he seems very healthy and happy and mentally where we need him.”

Mystic Guide, who has paired with Belmont Stakes-winning rider Luis Saez for his two starts this season, opened his current campaign in impressive fashion with a six-length win in the Razorback Handicap (G3) on a sloppy track Feb. 27 at Oaklawn Park, garnering a career-best 108 Beyer Speed Figure.

The chestnut demonstrated his class in winning the Dubai World Cup, overcoming a pair of late scratches that delayed the start of the $12 million event when Great Scot got loose during the post parade and Military Law broke through the starting gate and ran off.

“That was a strange scenario with the loose horses,” said Stidham. “He was really getting wound up and I will admit I was concerned about how he would run, but you saw what he did.”

On Saturday, Mystic Guide will have a second crack at the undefeated Happy Saver, who bested the Stidham trainee by 3/4 of a length in the 10-furlong Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) in October at Belmont.

Stidham said he is not concerned about a potential lack of pace in the compact six-horse field when Mystic Guide exits post 4 under Saez.

“We've got Saez up and he knows the horse well,” said Stidham. “We'll break, and going a mile and a quarter, we're not going to be in any hurry. If someone wants to set a little pace in front of us, we'll hopefully be in a stalking spot. Luis is going to have to decide that after the gates open. I was really happy with our draw.”

Given Mystic Guide’s impressive effort in the slop at Oaklawn, Stidham said he also isn’t concerned about the 70-percent chance of precipitation forecasted by the National Weather Service for Saturday in the Elmont, N.Y., area.

“A little moisture in the track isn't going to hurt us,” said Stidham.

Prioritize seeks first graded stakes win in Suburban

Veteran conditioner Jimmy Bond said he is hoping to see an improved run out of William L. Clifton Jr.’s Prioritize as he stretches back out to a mile and a quarter for Saturday’s Suburban.

The 6-year-old son of Tizway was third in the 10-furlong Woodward (G1) in September at Saratoga following a sharp allowance optional claiming win at the Spa going nine furlongs.

A prominent placing in a prestigious race gave Bond confidence to try the Jockey Club Gold Cup where he was fourth behind fellow Suburban aspirants Happy Saver and Mystic Guide, as well as last year’s Suburban winner Tacitus.

After an extended break, Prioritize commenced his 2021 season in the Pimlico Special (G3) on May 14, where he was 10 lengths off the pace over a speed-favoring track and made up enough ground to finish fifth under jockey Joel Rosario.

“It was a speed-favoring track that day and coming off the bench going a mile and three-sixteenths is no easy task,” Bond said. “He got a good race out of it though. He saved ground and Joel did the best that he could. We’re just hoping for some more improvement as we’re trying to tackle some of the big boys on Saturday. We freshened him up over the winter and it was a positive for him, so fingers crossed he can put up a big run.”

Bond captured the 1999 Suburban with multiple graded stakes-winner Behrens, who arrived at his successful Suburban engagement as the heavy favorite off three straight graded stakes wins in the Gulfstream Park Handicap (G1), Oaklawn Handicap (G1) and Massachusetts Handicap (G2).

While Prioritize does not boast a resume of that prominence, Bond said the Classic distance will be right up his alley.

“He was pretty wide in the Woodward, but he made a good showing that day. He’s just a grinder and grinders win going a mile and a quarter,” Bond said.

Bond, who also trained Tizway, purchased Prioritize for $45,000 from the 2016 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, where he was consigned by Legacy Bloodstock.

“He and Tizway were both big-bodied horses,” Bond said. “This horse is a beautiful horse. I can't believe we only paid $45,000 for him. He's just a nice horse.”

Rosario will return to the irons aboard Prioritize from the rail.

Informative looks to continue bucking odds in Suburban

Trin-Brook Stables’ Informative already proved he can win a graded stakes as a long shot and will look to register a second upset win in as many months when he competes as part of a six-horse field in Saturday’s Suburban.

The Uriah St. Lewis trainee captured the Salvator Mile (G3) on June 12 at Monmouth Park, winning at 79-1 odds in besting Grade 1-placed Ny Traffic by a full length in the one-mile contest for just his third career victory in 25 starts.

St. Lewis will put the 4-year-old Bodemeister colt up against another accomplished field in the Suburban.

After being stabled at Parx, Informative will be making his second career start at Belmont.

“He’s doing everything good; his training’s been good,” St. Lewis said Friday morning. “We’ll be there sometime tonight.”

Informative, again the longest shot on the board on the morning line at 15-1, will break from post 2 with jockey Manny Franco in the irons for the 135th running of the Suburban.

“I’m very confident because he’s running the same numbers as the rest of the field,” St. Lewis said. “We have a very good jockey. I think he’s doing fantastic, and I think he has a very good chance to win.”

Informative earned a personal-best 99 Beyer for his Salvator Mile victory, in which he rallied from last of 10 to win over a fast Monmouth track. After never posting a Beyer higher than 85 through his first 23 starts, Informative has now reached the 90-plateau in consecutive races, starting with a runner-up effort going 1 1/16 miles in an optional claimer on May 15 at Pimlico (90) before his breakthrough performance last out.

“Within the last two months, we’ve seen an entirely different horse,” St. Lewis said. “He’s doing everything right. He’s producing wins, so hopefully, we’ll just do it again. He got stronger. He’s always been on the lean side; he’s not one of those big, heavy horses. But he eats up everything and sleeps well and has been training fantastic.

“His attitude has changed,” he added. “He used to be a little more rough around the edges. Now, he’s more focused when he’s getting ready to run. He’s doing great.”

Informative’s only previous start at Belmont came when sixth against allowance company in June 2020. That race – won by Tap It to Win – pitted Informative against Suburban even-money favorite Mystic Guide (who ran second that day). St. Lewis said Informative could also relish stretching out to 1 1/4 miles for the first time in his career.

“I think it will benefit him a lot because he’s one of those horses who can just sit and wait for the race to develop in front of him and then make his run,” St. Lewis said. “The last time he ran there, he ran against some of the horses running tomorrow. He got checked at the top of the stretch and ended up finishing sixth. After that, we went all over the place, but we’re back and he’s focused now and hopefully we’ll see the same Informative that we did in the last two races.”

St. Lewis owns Trin-Brook Stables with his family and said that has allowed him to take his time and place Informative in spots that have helped him improve later in his career. It was the same trajectory Discreet Lover took in winning the 2018 Excelsior (G3) and the Jockey Club Gold Cup (at 45-1 odds) as a 5-year-old.

“We train for ourselves, which is great, so we don’t have any pressure,” St. Lewis said. “If we do poorly, we go back to the drawing board. If we do well, we look good. That’s the good thing about it. With my wife, son and daughter, we sit down together and say, ‘this is a good spot,’ or ‘let’s try this’ and then we do it.”