BY GULFSTREAM PARK PRESS OFFICE (Edited)
HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – A graded-stakes winner as a 2-year-old, Mythical will use Saturday’s $100,000 Florida Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association Sophomore Fillies Sprint at Gulfstream Park as a steppingstone to future graded-stakes engagements.
“This race came up. It makes sense. It’s six furlongs and she can stay right here,” trainer Jorge Delgado said. “I feel like she is going to have her best moment.”
Mythical has been installed as the 4-5 morning-line favorite for the six-furlong sprint for 3-year-old fillies that will be featured on Saturday’s program along with five-other $100,000 stakes for Florida-breds.
“She’s getting better and better. She’s maturing mentally,” Delgado said of the Arindel homebred filly with five stakes victories from eight starts to her credit. “I know she’s one of the best fillies in the country right now.”
Mythical made a name for herself from the very start when she followed up an eighth-and-a-half-length debut victory at Gulfstream last April by beating the boys in the five-and-a-half-furlong Tremont (Listed) and scoring a three-and-a-quarter length triumph in the Grade 3 Adirondack, both at Saratoga. The daughter of St Patrick’s Day went on to finish fifth in the Grade 1 Spinaway at Saratoga after setting a pressured pace before concluding her juvenile campaign at Gulfstream with back-to-back front-running FTBOA Florida Sire Stakes scores in the $200,000 Susan’s Girl and $300,000 My Dear Girl.
Mythical came up short in her 2026 debut at Gulfstream Jan. 31 in the Grade 3 Forward Gal following a slow start and setting a pressured early pace in the seven-furlong tilt. She bounced back to run six furlongs in 1:09.50 to win the $122,500 Any Limit by two lengths last time out at Gulfstream.
“She had a bad start [in the Forward Gal]. She just had a bad day,” Delgado said. “She bounced back to win her last race. She is training really good right now.”
Edgard Zayas will return from New York to Gulfstream to accept the return mount aboard Mythical and they have post five.
Magic Cap Stables, Paul Braverman, Timothy Pinch, Castle Gate Farm LLC, Turf Express Racing Inc and John Reinhardt’s Tessellate, a two-time winner of open stakes, enters the Sophomore Fillies Sprint coming off a four-and-a-half-length romp in the $98,000 Stonehedge Farm South Sophomore Fillies for state-breds at Tampa Bay Downs.
The Saffie Joseph Jr.-trained daughter of McKinzie won at first asking in a state-bred maiden special weight last July before making five open-stakes appearances in a row, including back-to-back victories in the $75,000 Juvenile Fillies Sprint at Gulfstream in November and the $120,000 Gasparilla traveling seven furlongs at Tampa Bay Downs in January. After finishing sixth in the Forward Gal, she came back to win the aforementioned Sophomore Fillies at Tampa Bay.
Joseph will also be represented by MyRacehorse Thoroughbred Acquisition’s Love Like Lucy, who finished second in a six-furlong state-bred allowance last time out following a fourth-place finish in the Gasparilla.
Micah Husbands is scheduled to ride Tessellate, who is rated second at 7-2 on the morning-line, for the first time, while Edwin Gonzalez has the call on Love Like Lucy.
Thorough Crowd and Mr. CPA Racing’s Unfaithful Rose will run in the Sophomore Fillies Sprint coming off a troubled-but-promising fourth-place finish in the six-furlong Xtra Heat at Laurel Park Feb. 4. According to the Equibase chart, the daughter of Vino Rosso was ‘pinballed’ at the start of the six-furlong sprint before making a strong wide run to come up just a length short of victory.
The Ethan West-trained filly broke her maiden at Mahoning Valley by 12 lengths after finishing second in her first two races at Belterra Park and before checking in a close-up third in a Fair Grounds optional claiming allowance at six furlongs.
Junior Alvarado ventures from Keeneland to Gulfstream to ride Unfaithful Rose and runners in four other stakes Saturday.
D J Stable LLC and Robert Contran’s Winplaceandshow withstood a race-long challenge for the lead from Love Like Lucy in her last race before prevailing by a head. The daughter of Win Win Win is trained by Joe Orseno.
Leonel Reyes has the call aboard Winplaceandshow from post one.
Flying Finish Farm Inc’s Flowko, trainer Mary Lightner’s Tosca and Paula Capestro’s La Chismosa, and The Elkstone Group LLC’s Don’t Do It Lucy round out the field.
Return to the April 23 issue of Wire to Wire
