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Back in My Day: Mythical Soulmate
Original article written by The Steward posted 11 years 1 week agoBack before Wonder and Baby, the old SIM had its own set of blue hen mares who churned out one star after the other. One of those was the great Bright Candles, who in real life is responsible for Grand Slam. Her best known SIM son is probably Birthday Candles, that earmuffed son of Old Topper who won the Steward's Cup Turf Mile, but strangely enough she had two millionaires and he wasn't even one of them.
The first was People's Champion, a $4 million earner that few remember by Wild Again. That guy ran second in the Desert World Cup and third in the Steward's Cup Classic in addition to his grade 1 Baltimore Special win. The other millionaire was Mythical Soulmate, a son of Storm Bird.
Mythical Soulmate, born in Year 2, is about as unassuming as they come, but was a consistent kind of guy. Donna Houchins trained the colt, who broke his maiden second out after losing to very good runners Tie Beau and Littlebitotrouble in his debut. In his maiden win, which came over 7 furlongs, he defeated future star Yokoa Cat, so he clearly had some class early on. He finished third in the grade 1 Inglewood Futurity to close out the year, finishing ahead of nice runners like Checkered Flag and Morning Glory.
Unfortunately for Mythical Soulmate, he was simply born in the wrong crop. He had to deal with Shepickedupadance first in the Event of the Year Stakes, where he ran second, and then faced Priceless Forever in the Bluegrass Stakes. He marched on to the Louisville Derby anyway and finished 9th of 13 without making an impact.
After a long break (for the old old SIM, you could run every week without issue, and this was a three week break), he returned to face sprinters in the Jerome Handicap. It went poorly, as Mythical Soulmate ran 6th of 11, so he returned to allowance company to close out the year. The classy sophomore won going a mile on the grass. Weirdly enough, he never ran on turf again. Because his brother went on to win the Turf Mile, you have to wonder about that training fail!
Mythical Soulmate perked up Year 5 as a four-year-old and started the year by defeating Adonis and future Steward's Cup winner Astarabad in the Oaklawn Park Handicap (grade 2). He ran a close third in a thrilling renewal of the Baltimore Special, beaten by Tie Beau and the filly Smokemifyagotem. Then he was third behind his brother People's Champion in the Islein Handicap. That concluded his year, but he would be back at five for the biggest win of his career.
It was down to Florida for the Gulfstream Park Handicap to open the new year, where Mythical Soulmate and People's Champion battled to the wire. People's Champion won again, edging out his brother in a field of eight. To get away from him, Mythical Soulmate made his way to California for the Inglewood Gold Cup, where he finished third. Back to New York, this time for the Whitney, and Mythical Soulmate finished second.
At this point he still had only one major win to his credit, and that had come nearly two years before. No one was really worried about facing him, as Mythical Soulmate seemed unable to get the job done on any big occasion. He'd tackled grade 1 company 7 times with no wins, but he would break through that barrier in the 1 1/4 mile Jockey Club Gold Cup (grade 1) Week 11 of Year 6.
The favorite in that race was $3.8 million earner Farewell Friend, an adorable dual-surfaced chestnut that had run 2nd in both the Steward's Cup Juvenile and Louisville Derby. Arkansas Derby winner Rival Legend was the second choice, followed by Mythical Soulmate. In surprise fashion, Mythical Soulmate put them both away and bounced home to win the $1 million race. It was his first grade 1 win in 8 tries.
To conclude his career, Mythical Soulmate tried the Steward's Cup Classic. He finished seventh, well behind Onwardsilvercharm, and retired with 4 wins, 3 seconds and 4 thirds in 16 starts. His earnings reached $1,489,000.
As a sire, Mythical Soulmate was primarily strong with fillies. He saw the superfreak mare Three Day Event early on and from her got $511,280 earner Dark Fantasy. She produced millionaire Under the Covers, who is still represented today by the mares Safe and Warm, Safe and Protected and Watched Pot, who are producing decent runners of their own.
His bloodline will likely fade and disappear, but game campaigners like Mythical Soulmate are what players should strive for, so he shouldn't be forgotten.