Mythical makes the grade in the Adirondack (Angelo Lieto)
Christian Abdo/NYRA Press Office
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Arindel’s Florida homebred Mythical, the last-out winner of the Listed Tremont versus males here, validated that performance with an impressive win versus her own kind in Sunday’s Grade 3, $175,000 Adirondack, a 6 1/2-furlong sprint for juvenile fillies, at Saratoga Race Course.
Trained by Jorge Delgado, the St Patrick’s Day bay wired the 5 1/2-furlong Tremont on June 5 by 3 1/2 lengths over Blinging It Back after a dominant pacesetting debut in a 4 1/2-furlong maiden tilt in April at Gulfstream Park.
Mythical showed she was the real deal when adding another furlong on Sunday, and she may target seven furlongs next in the Grade 1, $300,000 Spinaway on August 30 here. That race offers a “Win and You’re In” berth to the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies on October 31 at Del Mar.
“Most likely, 99 percent,” said Delgado. “God willing, knocking on wood, everything goes good after this race and she comes back sound.
“I think she will adjust to whatever you want her to do,” Delgado added. “Today was 6 1/2 [furlongs] – we knew she needed to go from the very beginning. Maybe for the seven furlongs we can restrict her and try to stretch out a little more and find a way to relax her in the beginning. It’s going to be a tough task, but I think she’s smart enough to learn everything you want to teach her.”
Piloted by regular rider Emisael Jaramillo, Mythical exited the inside post smoothly to take command while pressured mildly by the stutter-stepping New York-bred Angel Gift and Spa Prospector through an opening quarter-mile in 21.99 seconds on the fast main track.
“No problem in the gate, she is very good,” said Jaramillo. “This filly is very good, she is very classy.”
Mythical widened the gap back to Angel Gift and Spa Prospector in the turn and was all alone at the top of the lane after posting a sharp half-mile in 44.86. Meringue, who was last early, jostled for position between rivals when straightened for home as Spa Prospector drifted out, all while Mythical built a 5 1/2-length advantage by the stretch call.
The Flavien Prat-piloted Meringue found clear sailing in the final furlong but Mythical’s lead was far too great after three-quarters in 1:10.20 and she cruised home a much-the-best winner in a final time of 1:17.20.
Meringue was 3 1/4 lengths back in second, with Spa Prospector and Tiz in Sight completing the superfecta. Angel Gift rounded out the order of finish. Iron Orchard was scratched.
Mythical’s final time, although a day later, was faster than Ewing’s winning 1:18.03 in Saturday’s Grade 2 Saratoga Special as well as Ted Noffey’s 1:17.56 in the Whitney Day opener – both well-regarded juvenile colts.
“They tried to go for it in the beginning, but when you see the fractions going 22 and 44 – compared to the horses yesterday, two good horses – she went a second less than the boys,” said Delgado. “I would say the track is a little bit heavier today than yesterday after the first few races. She did really good.”
Delgado added that Mythical showed talent from Day One.
“Before she won the first race, she breezed one day at Gulfstream and I knew she was special,” said Delgado. “I’ve been fortunate enough to train a few good horses in the past years, and she showed me right away, ‘I’m one.'”
Arindel’s Brian Cohen said the connections will do right by the horse and make sure all is well before committing to the Spinaway.
“She ran so hard today, in the back of our heads we’re thinking Spinaway, but we’ll see how she comes out of it,” said Cohen. “I’m not putting that for sure, because she went pretty fast early and we’ll see how she comes back and we’ll do what’s best for her. We go up in caliber of horses we’re going to face at this point… just super happy right now.”
Prat said it didn’t help that the Rudy Brisset-trained Meringue, making her dirt debut after winning a turf maiden sprint in her lone outing on June 19 at Churchill Downs, bobbled at the start and broke outwardly.
“When she got on the inside, she took the dirt well and made a good run. I would imagine more distance would be better for her and she’ll stretch out well,” said Prat.
Mythical, out of the winning Brethren mare Lailoni, banked $96,250 in victory while improving her record to 3-for-3 and returning $3.80 for a $2 win bet as the post-time favorite. Her second dam, the New York-bred Dat You Miz Blue, won the 2001 Grade 3 Vagrancy Handicap at Belmont Park among a 33-14-9-4 record.
Live racing resumes Wednesday with a nine-race program that features the Listed $150,000 Birdstone in Race 7. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern.
