SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The undefeated and yet untested 2-year-old filly Mythical will be back with her own kind when she returns to Saratoga on Aug. 3 for the Grade 3 Adirondack Stakes.
Mythical made her local debut against males in the Tremont, dominating her four rivals in gate-to-wire fashion, edging away to an easy 3 1/2-length victory over Blinging It Back, with Romeo nearly eight lengths further back at the wire. Romeo not only flattered Mythical’s performance with his 3 3/4-length triumph in the Bashford Manor 24 days later at Churchill Downs, but even further after selling for $1.7 million earlier this week at the Fasig-Tipton July horses of racing age sale.
Mythical, who won her career debut by 8 1/2 lengths on April 17 at Gulfstream Park, is a homebred daughter of St. Patrick’s Day owned by Alan Cohen’s Arindel Farm. Cohen, the former owner of the now two-time reigning Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers, takes a back seat when it comes to the stable’s daily operation, with his son Brian overseeing the steadily growing and thriving family business.
“We’re definitely pointing her for the Adirondack, not the Saratoga Special,” said Brian Cohen. “Running against the boys in the Tremont, that was a one-off.”
Mythical is trained by Jorge Delgado, who has horses for Arindel at Monmouth Park along with Carlos David, who sent out Tank, another Arindel homebred, to finish fourth here last weekend in the Grade 1 Belmont Derby. Arindel also has several horses bedded down locally with trainer Amelia Green.
“I talked to Jorge this morning, and he said the filly [Mythical] is doing great and he expects her to run even bigger next time,” the younger Cohen enthused. “He briefly considered sending her here last week for the Schuylerville because it didn’t appear the race was coming up that tough, although we ultimately decided we wanted to keep her fresh and point her for graded stakes opportunities like the Adirondack and the Spinaway, if all works out well, at the end of the meet.”
Obviously, the waters will get deeper and the opposition faster, but Cohen doesn’t believe the lightning-quick Mythical, who has made every pole a winning one in her two starts, necessarily needs to be on the lead.
“The way Jorge talks about her, he compares her to a 5-year-old mare because she’s such a mellow filly and takes everything so easily,” said Cohen. “We don’t think it would be a problem for her to shut off if necessary. It’s just she is so fast, she hasn’t had to thus far.”
Cohen said the family currently has 25 mares on a farm located about 15 minutes from Saratoga and the plan is to expand their New York-bred operation moving forward.
“We want to start spending our summers up here and with the new Belmont coming it just seems to make a lot of sense to head in that direction,” Cohen said.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.