HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Although she capped her outstanding 2-year-old campaign winning the 1 1/16-mile My Dear Girl Stakes in one-sided fashion, Mythical will turn back to seven furlongs when she launches her 3-year-old season Saturday at Gulfstream Park in the $175,000 Forward Gal Stakes. The Grade 3 fixture drew a strong and well-matched lineup of eight, including stakes winners Tessellate, Sneaky Good, and On Time Girl.
The Forward Gal will offer 42 qualifying points for the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks on May 1 at Churchill Downs to be distributed to the top five finishers on a 20-10-6-4-2 basis.
The Arindel homebred Mythical was nearly perfect at 2, winning five of her six starts with the lone blemish on her record a fifth-place finish in the Grade 1 Spinaway at Saratoga. She bounced back from that performance with easy wins against Florida-sired runners in the final two legs of the Florida Sire Series, by 12 3/4 lengths in the seven-furlong Susan’s Girl and by 2 1/2 lengths making her two-turn debut in the My Dear Girl.
“This seemed like the logical spot to start her off in this year. Jorge [trainer Jorge Delgado] and I both agreed on that,” Arindel president Brian Cohen said. “The distance is right for her. We’ll see how this goes and then make a decision from there what direction we will head in with her, from a distance standpoint, moving forward. Although the Spinaway was also at seven furlongs, I think we wheeled her back a little too quick that day, just four weeks after she won the Adirondack.”
Mythical has trained forwardly for her return, with a series of half-mile breezes punctuated by strong – and on several occasions long – gallop-outs. Edgard Zayas will be aboard Mythical for the first time in the Forward Gal, replacing regular rider Emisael Jaramillo, who moved his tack to Santa Anita this winter.
“Edgard was named to ride Mythical in her first start but couldn’t be here that day and Emisael picked up the mount,” Cohen explained. “But Edgard knows her well, and we’re really confident in him. And Jorge is really bullish on her right now. Unfortunately, it’s a tough draw, with all the speed in the field on her outside. We would have loved if she could have drawn an outside post where she could settle, like she did in the Susan’s Girl.”
Trainer Brad Cox will hold a strong hand in the Forward Gal with Sneaky Good and On Time Girl. Sneaky Good is perfect in two starts and coming off an easy win in the Sandpiper Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs, while On Time Girl has captured three of her four outings, with her lone setback a second-place finish in the Myrtlewood Stakes during the fall at Keeneland.
“Sneaky Good has been good in both starts,” Cox said. “She settled nicely in her last run and finished up well, giving us confidence to stretch her out a bit and see if she can step up.”
Cox is equally confident On Time Girl will rise to the occasion when making her graded stakes debut Saturday.
“She’s done nothing wrong,” Cox said of On Time Girl. “She was pressed the whole way when she got beat at Keeneland but never gave up. But this is a very good group of fillies assembled for this race, and both our horses are going to have to take a step forward.”
Like Cox, trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. also will send out a pair of key contenders in Tessellate and the lesser experienced Secane.
Tessellate continues to improve with each start, having won the Juvenile Fillies Sprint by 13 lengths here in her 2-year-old finale before opening her current campaign with a 2 3/4-length triumph making her first start at seven furlongs in the Gasparilla Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs. Secane will turn back in distance after setting the pace through midstretch before succumbing grudgingly to finish third in the one-mile Cash Run here on New Year’s Day.
Joseph said he was unsure whether Tessellate would run in the Forward Gal until blowing her out three furlongs on Monday.
“We entered before the work just to take a look, it’s coming back a little quick [three weeks], but the way she worked she’s good to go,” Joseph said. “Taking her back has made a big difference in how she’s run. She’s definitely better off the pace.”
Hollen Drive and Imperatrice, each of whom won their last starts locally, round out the competitive lineup.
– additional reporting by David Grening
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