Max Player, Mystic Guide Exit Suburban in Top Shape
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Photo: Coglianese Photos/Susie Raisher
Jockey Ricardo Santana Jr. and Max Player after winning the Suburban Stakes at Belmont Park
The top two finishers in the July 3 Suburban Stakes (G2) exited the race in good shape with the connections of each steering toward the Nov. 6 Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) at Del Mar on the horizon. The exact path each will take, however, remains to be determined.
Winner Max Player , owned by George E. Hall and the microshare partnership group SportBLX Thoroughbreds, earned an automatic berth in the $6 million Classic. Trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, the 4-year-old son of Honor Code , was winless in his prior half-dozen starts heading into the Suburban with his last victory coming in the Withers Stakes (G3) last February at Aqueduct Racetrack. He was subsequently third in last year's Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1) and Runhappy Travers Stakes (G1), both of which were won by Tiz the Law .
Max Player (outside) defeats Mystic Guide in the the Suburban Stakes at Belmont Park
In the Suburban, run on a sloppy sealed Belmont Park track, Max Player stalked pacesetter Moretti until the quarter pole where odds-on favorite Mystic Guide rallied along the rail to take the lead. Mystic Guide could not hold off the doggedly persistent drive from Max Player and jockey Richardo Santana Jr., however, who together wore the favorite down to win by a neck.
"He came out of it in good shape, ate up, got a nice little roll in the grass. He's very happy," said Asmussen's Belmont-based assistant Toby Sheets.
Max Player came into the Suburban off a sixth May 14 in the Pimlico Special Match Series Stakes (G3) and shipped straight to Belmont, where he breezed five times over the training track.
"He gradually improved; he loves it here," Sheets said. "He got to do some things that helped him. I'm very happy with him. The way he ran shows how he improved."
Bred by Hall's K & G Stables out of the Not for Love stakes winner Fools in Love, Max Player has now compiled a 3-1-2 record from 10 starts and banked $717,500. Max Player was initially trained by Linda Rice before being moved to Asmussen last August.
The Suburban triumph gave Asmussen a second victory in this race after sending out New York-bred Haynesfield to victory in 2010.
Meanwhile July 4, Godolphin's Dubai World Cup Sponsored by Emirates Airline (G1) winner Mystic Guide was already back at Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland.
Trainer Michael Stidham identified several elements that went against 4-year-old son of Ghostzapper in the Suburban but said he was happy to see a good performance from his star.
"He looks great. He came out of the race in good shape," Stidham said. "There were lots of factors involved. He was coming off three months and obviously it was a demanding racetrack he ran on. Saez was forced to go up the rail, which was not the better part of the track. He fought back gamely and valiantly under some unfavorable circumstances."
Stidham said the Breeders' Cup Classic is the ultimate goal and he has plenty of options to get there.
"Nothing about what happened Saturday changed our plans of getting to the Breeders' Cup," Stidham said. "We'll get him back to training and that will give us some time to compute it all."
Never off the board in nine lifetime starts, Mystic Guide boasts a record of 4-3-2 with previous stakes victories taking place in the Jim Dandy Stakes (G2) last September at Saratoga Race Course and his seasonal debut in the Razorback Handicap (G3) Feb. 27 at Oaklawn Park. Out of the grade 1-winning A.P. Indy mare Music Note, Mystic Guide has accumulated nearly $7.6 million in lifetime earnings.
Stidham confirmed that Mystic Guide's consistent half brother and stable mate Gershwin will seek a second consecutive graded stakes triumph in the July 5 Dwyer Stakes (G3) going a one-turn mile over the Belmont main track. The son of Distorted Humor was a last out winner of a May 28 off-the-turf edition of the Penn Mile Stakes (G3) at Penn National Race Course.
Stidham also confirmed John and Susan Moore's graded stakes-winner Princess Grace , who was scratched from the July 3 off-the-turf Perfect Sting at Belmont, will race July 6 in the Dr. James Penny Memorial (G3T) at Parx Racing. The 4-year-old daughter of Karakontie last raced in the Nov. 14 Mrs. Revere Stakes (G2) at Churchill Downs.