BY BROCK SHERIDAN
Mythical, the Florida-bred multiple stakes winner of five of six starts last year as a 2-year-old, worked a half mile at Gulfstream Park Saturday in preparation for her 2026 debut in next Saturday’s Grade 3 Forward Gal at Gulfstream.
Last year, the Arindel homebred filly defeated colts and geldings in the Listed Tremont in June in her second career start then won the Grade 3 Adirondack by three-and-a-quarter lengths on August 3, both at Saratoga Race Course. She next finished fifth in the Grade 1 Spinaway at Saratoga on August 30 before returning to Florida to win the last two filly divisions of the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association Florida Sire Stakes at Gulfstream. She dominated the seven-furlong, $200,000 Susan’s Girl, winning by 12 ¾ lengths on October 18 and won the $300,000 My Dear Girl at a mile-and-one-sixteenth on November 29.
Trained by Jorge Delgado, the Arindel homebred Mythical clocked four furlongs in :49.21, the 32nd fastest work among 73 at the distance Saturday morning at Gulfstream. It was her fourth half-mile work of the month including a :49.18 breeze on January 17.
“[Trainer Jorge Delgado] said it was the best work he’s seen from her,” Arindel’s Brian Cohen said. “And that’s coming off a really good work last week that he was really happy about. He’s very high on her.”
“We’re hoping she gets a nice outside post so she can relax a little bit because she keeps getting hemmed on the inside. Hopefully she makes us Florida proud. She’s doing great.”
The seven-furlong Forward Gal and the one-mile Davona Dale (G2) on February 28, lead to the Grade 1 Gulfstream Park Oaks set for March 28. The Forward Gal offers 42 qualifying points on the Road to the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) set for May 1 at Churchill Downs. The top five finishers in the Forward Gal will earn 20-10-6-4-2 Oaks Leaderboard points respectively.
However, Cohen said he and Delgado are not thinking too far ahead in planning future races for Mythical.
“I think it’s still up in the air what distance she prefers,” Cohen said. “She got the two turns [in the My Dear Girl] but she may prefer sprinting. I think we’re going to start here and then see how this one goes and go from there.
“We don’t have a path penciled in for her yet. We’re just going race by race. We do know that seven furlongs is definitely in her wheelhouse.”
An earner of $540,750, Mythical is by St Patricks Day out of Lailoni, by Brethren, who stands at Arindel.
Return to the January 24 issue of Wire to Wire
