Mystic Park all class and courage in Stewards’ Stakes

[Wandering Eyes]

Riccarton’s Listed Lindauer Stewards’ Stakes (1200m) is a special race on the calendar for local trainers Michael and Matthew Pitman, who won the $140,000 sprint showpiece again on Saturday with a remarkable performance from a rising star.

Mystic Park became the Pitman stable’s sixth Stewards’ Stakes winner in the last 17 years, joining Coup Bloomsbury (2007), Coup Align (2009 and 2010) and El Chico, who won it as a seven-year-old in 2011 and again as an 11-year-old in 2015.

With those previous winners along with Group One speedsters like Enzo’s Lad and Sensei, the Pitmans have had plenty of sprinting talent on their hands throughout the last couple of decades. But the father-son pair believe Mystic Park could be the best of the lot.

The Pitmans paid $40,000 to buy the son of Ocean Park as a yearling at Karaka in 2021. He went into Saturday’s race as the winner of six of his 11 starts, placing in another three.

The Stewards’ Stakes was Mystic Park’s first shot at black-type level, and he had to carry a 59kg topweight against a 16-horse field that was mostly on 53kg.

Mystic Park and jockey Sam Weatherley settled well back in a tightly bunched field, then began to warm into their work in the straight. The favourite had his momentum halted on two occasions as Weatherley had to duck and weave to find clear running.

Last week’s Listed Pegasus Stakes (1000m) winner Illicit Dreams swept to the lead out wide on the track in what looked like a winning move, but Mystic Park hit top gear in the final 50m and clawed his way past her to win by a head.

Mystic Park was the first topweight in more than a decade to win the Stewards’ Stakes. The last was Durham Town, who won under 59.5kg in 2013.

“He’s a proper horse,” Weatherley said. “He had no real right to win that. He’s not really at home on that ground, he was stopped in his tracks a couple of times in the straight, and he was carrying 59kg and giving six kilos to most of the field. It was a huge effort.

“It’s a great training performance from the Pitmans as well. It was pretty bold to give him just the one run back in August and then wait for today. They have bigger ambitions up north later in the season, and I’m sure he’ll do them proud.

“These Pitman colours mean a lot to me. They’ve been big supporters of mine all the way through. I’m thrilled to get a big winner for them during Cup Week.”

Mystic Park has now had 12 starts for seven wins, three placings and $237,170 in stakes. The TAB now rates him a $10 chance for the Gr.1 Telegraph (1200m) at Trentham on January 4, with a quote of $26 available for the Gr.1 Sistema Railway (1200m) at Ellerslie three weeks later.

“We were offered huge money by the Ciaron Maher stable when he won his first start, but we didn’t sell him,” Michael Pitman said.

“The times he’s run, he’s as good as any horse around. We’ve still got to prove that, of course, but that’s what we believe.

“He almost got knocked over twice in the straight today and still got up to win. He’s a good horse.

“I love this race. We’ve won it six or seven times now, including with an 11-year-old. This race and the Telegraph are probably my two favourite races.”

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