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Mike Stidham Talks Mystic Guide, Godolphin, Arlington On Writers’ Room

With over 2,000 wins and dozens of graded stakes scores on his resume, Mike Stidham has well established himself as a top trainer in this business. But as of yet, his stable hasn't quite found its breakout star–one that can take him to Breeders' Cup glory and maybe even an Eclipse Award or two. That may have changed with the arrival of Mystic Guide (Ghostzapper) in Stidham's barn two years ago, as the Godolphin blueblood has steadily developed into a budding star, fresh off a jaw-dropping victory in the GIII Razorback H. and headed for an engagement in the G1 Dubai World Cup. Wednesday morning, Stidham joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland as the Green Group Guest of the Week to discuss his plans for Mystic Guide, how the Godolphin racing and breeding operation works, the demise of his beloved Arlington Park and more.

“As you can see from his past performances, we took our time with him. We spaced his races,” Stidham said of Mystic Guide's steady progression. “There were a lot of temptations because it had been moved to September to still try to make the Derby. He just always seemed like he was a step or two behind some of the top 3-year-olds last year. So we gave him the time and felt like he had really moved forward late in the year. At that point, again there was temptation to try him in the Breeders' Cup, but we decided to do the right thing and get him ready for his 4-year-old year. We never turned him out, we just lightened up on his training and I felt really confident from a maturity standpoint, mentally and physically, he had gone the right way. So the [Razorback] performance was not surprising.”

Asked about the surging Godolphin racing operation in America and how it operates across several trainers, Stidham commented, “When you look at the stallion power of these horses–Tapit, Hard Spun, Curlin–then you look down and you see mares like Panty Raid, Music Note, it's only a matter of time until they start to do what they're doing. Interestingly enough, the trainers never see the 2-year-olds until they walk into their barn. I know that Jimmy [Bell] makes trips down to Ocala where they're in training, mostly with Eddie Woods, Niall Brennan, David Scanlon, but we don't know anything about what we're getting until we get a list sent to our email. Until they walk into our barn, we've never seen them before. I think they try to somewhat fit horses to the programs that we're running and obviously they've done a great job, because it's working really well.”

Stidham has been a mainstay at Arlington Park in the summer for several years and has won multiple training titles there. But the news is not good for the Chicago-area plant, as it appears Churchill Downs will abandon racing there after 2021. He didn't mince words when asked his feelings about those developments.

“I'm very, very disappointed in the way Churchill has handled Arlington. I think it's total disrespectful to the Illinois horsemen,” he said. “For me, Arlington was like a national park would be for the public, where you cherish it, and for anybody to go in and tear it down and make it into a residential area because it's better for the stockholders shows no respect for the tradition of Arlington or the horsemen who fought for so many years to try to get gaming there to bolster Illinois racing. For them to walk along with the horsemen for all those years acting like they wanted gaming, then finally get it and then just flat turn it down because they got involved with a casino 15 miles away and didn't want the competition, it's just horrible and sad. It's a very sad day in racing to lose Arlington Park.”

Elsewhere in the show, the writers talked to TDN European editor Emma Berry about the Gordon Elliott story, reacted to a big weekend of 3-year-old racing and, in the West Point Thoroughbreds news segment, broke down the implications of the Irad Ortiz, Jr.-Paco Lopez fight. Click here to watch the podcast; click here for the audio-only version.

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‘Hoping For An Even Better 4-Year-Old Year’: G2 Winner Mystic Guide Returns In Razorback

Post positions for the rescheduled $600,000 Razorback Handicap (G3) for older horses Saturday at Oaklawn were drawn Tuesday.

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 Godolphin's 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,” trainer Mike 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.

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Mandaloun Looks to Do Juddmonte Proud in Lecomte

The same week that Juddmonte Farms’ owner and founder Khalid Abdullah passed away, the legendary outfit has a chance to take a step toward its long-sought first GI Kentucky Derby win when undefeated ‘TDN Rising Star’ Mandaloun (Into Mischief) goes postward as a likely favorite in the GIII Lecomte S. Saturday at Fair Grounds. The race kicks off the Louisiana oval’s three-race Derby prep schedule, to be followed by the GII Risen Star S. and GII Louisiana Derby.

Hammered down to 11-10 favoritism debuting Oct. 24 at Keeneland, the homebred was ninth with a quarter-mile to go and encountered sustained traffic before finding daylight inside the eighth pole and charging to get up, earning his diploma and a ‘Rising Star’ badge to boot. The bay backed that call up with a much less eventful allowance/optional claiming score Nov. 28 at Churchill. He shows five local works for this stakes and two-turn bow, capped by a half-mile move in :48 3/5 (16/100) Jan. 9.

“He’s trained very well at Fair Grounds since we got here,” trainer Brad Cox told the Fair Grounds notes team. “We’ve always felt he was cut out to be a two-turn horse based on his physical make-up and how he trains. It shows how much talent he’s got to be able to win his first two races at sprint distances and now we’re going to do what we’ve thought he’s wanted to do all along, and that’s go long.”

Mandaloun’s task was made harder by drawing the 10-hole in the 11-horse group. Two horses who do have route experience as well as graded stakes placings as juveniles fared better when pulling the inside two posts and figure as major contenders.

Winchell Thoroughbreds’ rail-drawn Midnight Bourbon (Tiznow) followed up a 5 1/2-length maiden victory Aug. 22 at Ellis with a strong effort to be second after making a wide, early move into a fast pace in the GIII Iroquois S. Sept. 5 at Churchill. Unable to make a dent when finishing a well-beaten third in the GI Champagne S. Oct. 10 at Belmont, the $525,000 Keeneland September buy has been freshened since then and displays a trio of sharp five-furlong local breezes.

One stall to his right will be West Point Thoroughbreds and William Sandbrook’s Arabian Prince (Cairo Prince). Pulling a 12-1 upset on debut in a Churchill off-the-turfer Sept. 2, the $235,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga purchase was fourth when trying to close into a slow pace in the Street Sense S. Oct. 25 in Louisville and completed the trifecta at 13-1 in the GII Kentucky Jockey Club S. there Nov. 28.

“He’s a beautiful horse and this is the next step, so we’ll see how he fits,” trainer Dallas Stewart said. “He’s improved every time out, and we’re hoping for another progression Saturday. We’d like to save some ground and use the long stretch to our advantage. He’ll come running late.”

A pair of promising runners from the Mike Stidham barn figure to have a say as well. Godolphin’s well-regarded Proxy (Tapit), a neck second when unveiled in a rained-off Monmouth heat Oct. 24, the homebred triumphed in frontrunning fashion here Nov. 26 and repeated in an allowance Dec. 19.

“He’s like a big, immature kid who is still learning with racing,” Stidham said. “Last time when he won, he was a little green about switching leads coming down the lane, but once he leveled off, he drew away at the end, so we were pleased with that. We were deciding whether to run him back in this race or wait for a race like the Risen Star. We felt like he’s a big, healthy, strong colt and we thought the experience of running would do him more good than working three of four more times waiting for the Risen Star.”

Newtown Anner Stud’s Manor House (Upstart) gets a class test after pummeling Laurel maidens by 12 1/4 lengths Dec. 12.

“This is just the beginning for him,” Stidham said. “We really didn’t know what we were running against [at Laurel], but he showed a tremendous amount of talent that day and he’s done nothing but train exactly the same since the win, so, he’s definitely moving forward. We are anxious to see him run against winners and see what he can do.”

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‘Always Felt He Was Cut Out To Be A Two-Turn Horse’: Mandaloun To Stretch Out In Grade 3 Lecomte

The calendar has turned. The distances have increased. An extra turn has been added. The acid test beckons. Eleven 3-year-olds—including the undefeated Mandaloun—will assemble for Saturday's Grade 3 Lecomte at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots in the hopes of proving their mettle not only locally, but on the national scene as well, as thoughts turn to the first Saturday in May and the Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve.

The sorting out process begins in the 1 1/16-mile Lecomte, which will offer 17 qualifying points for the Derby (10-4-2-1), and should prove a key stepping-stone to the local March 20 TwinSpires Louisiana Derby (G2) as well.

The Lecomte will be run as the final event on a 13-race “Road to Derby Kickoff Day” card. Five other stakes, including the Silverbulletday for 3-year-old filles, will be contested on a program jam-packed with quality. First post will be at noon CT, one hour earlier than usual.

Juddmonte Farms' homebred Mandaloun has done little wrong in two successful starts for trainer Brad Cox, as he won on debut going six furlongs at Keeneland in October and in an optional-claimer going 7 furlongs Nov. 28 at Churchill Downs. Sent off as the even-money favorite in both races, the son of Into Mischief has displayed versatility, closing from eighth early on debut at Keeneland, then stalking the pace and pouncing from fourth before drawing off at Churchill. Cox has long been looking forward to stretching Mandaloun our around two turns, where he thinks he'll shine even more brightly.

“He's trained very well at Fair Grounds since we got here,” Cox said. “We've always felt he was cut out to be a two-turn horse based on his physical make-up and how he trains. It shows how much talent he's got to be able to win his first two races at sprint distances and now we're going to do what we've thought he's wanted to do all along, and that's go long.”

West Point Thoroughbreds and William Sandbrook's Arabian Prince (post 2 at 6-1 with Brian Hernandez Jr.) ended his freshman season with a strong third carded a race after Mandaloun's allowance win in Churchill's Kentucky Jockey Club (G2). The son of Mshawish won on debut there in September for trainer Dallas Stewart and was fourth in their Street Sense before earning some black type in his third career start. Stewart and West Point teamed up with Commanding Curve, who ran third in the Louisiana Derby (G2) here in 2014, and they are looking to embark down that path with Arabian Prince.

“He's a beautiful horse and this is the next step, so we'll see how he fits,” Stewart said. “He's improved every time out, it's the progression of it, and we're hoping for another progression Saturday. We'd like to save some ground and use the long stretch to our advantage. He'll come running late.”

Godolphin's homebred Proxy (post 4 at 6-1 with Mitchell Murrill) starts with a home court edge, as he's already won twice at the meet for trainer Mike Stidham. A beautifully bred son of Tapit is out of two-time G1 winner Panty Raid, Proxy has shown plenty of raw talent in winning two of three, but he faces by far the toughest test of his career in the Lecomte. In both wins, Proxy set a slow pace while being pressured on the lead before drawing off late, though Stidham very much admits he's still a work in progress.

“He's like a big, immature kid who is still learning with racing,” Stidham said. “Last time when he won, he was a little green about switching leads coming down the lane, but once he leveled off, he drew away at the end, so we were pleased with that. We were deciding whether to run him back in this race or wait for a race like the Risen Star. We felt like he's a big, healthy, strong colt and we thought the experience of running would do him more good than working three of four more times waiting for the Risen Star.”

Stidham could also run Newtown Anner Stud's Manor House, who is cross-entered in an optional-claimer (Race 8), but would bring plenty of intrigue if he runs in the Lecomte. The son of Upstart wired the field by 12 ¼ lengths on debut Dec. 12 at Laurel Park going a one-turn mile and he would be a major pace player, and quite possibly more, should he tackle stakes company on Saturday. Still, Stidham knows the best is yet to come, regardless where Manor House shows up next.

“This is just the beginning for him,” Stidham said. “He did everything right breaking his maiden, but he needs to take the next step and run well against winners for us to be confident moving forward with him.”

Winchell Thoroughbreds' Midnight Bourbon (post 1 at 7-2 with Ricardo Santana, Jr.) was twice stakes-placed at 2 for trainer Steve Asmussen and he should like getting back to two turns. The son of Tiznow aired in his second start going two turns at Ellis Park in August then was ran in a pair of one-turn miles stakes, when second in Churchill's Iroquois (G3) in September and third in Belmont Park's Champagne (G1) on October 10. Midnight Bourbon drew the rail and he has an enviable blend of tactical speed and stamina that should serve him well in his local bow.

Completing the Lecomte field from the rail out: Marylou Whitney Stables' homebred Beep Beep (post 3 at 12-1 with Joe Talamo), a debut winner Nov. 29 at Churchill for trainer Norm Casse who is also entered in Race 8; Coffeepot Stables' homebred Regular Guy (post 5 at 10-1 with Miguel Mena), a Dec. 19 track and distance MSW winner for trainer Wayne Catalano; Tom Durant's homebred Game Day Play (post 6 at 20-1 with Gabriel Saez), who won the Oct. 30 Clever Trevor at Remington Park for trainer Brett Calhoun; Calumet Farm's homebred Santa Cruiser (post 7 at 6-1 with James Graham), who broke his maiden on Nov. 15 at Churchill for trainer Keith Desormeaux; owner/trainer Terry Eoff's Red N Wild (post 8 at 20-1 with Declan Carroll), a distant third in the December 18 Springboard Mile at Remington; and Brad Allshouse's Dyn O Mite (post 11 at 30-1 with Colby Hernandez), who won an off-the-turf optional-claimer here on Dec. 4 for Desormeaux.

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