Unbeaten filly Mystical Pursuit is closely related to Group One star Mystic Journey but their trainer Adam Trinder says the two are also very different.
Mystical Pursuit, a year younger than Australian Guineas and All-Star Mile winner Mystic Journey, is set to make her Melbourne debut on Saturday at The Valley having started her career with four-straight wins in her home state of Tasmania during her juvenile season, including two at Listed level.
Mystical Pursuit and Mystic Journey are by Needs Further while Mystical Pursuit’s dam Oh So Gold is a half-sister to Mystic Journey.
“Mystic Journey is a lovely placid filly. This filly is a livewire,” Trinder said.
“She’s like a kite on the end of string on a windy day whenever you take her anywhere.
“That’s something that is concerning. I’ll be interested to see how she travels because her demeanour may be her down-coming. If she travels and doesn’t settle, we’ll obviously get a negative result.
“Type-wise they are not the same. This filly is a lot bigger with a bigger stride than Mystic Journey.
“And bottom line she’s nowhere near as fast.
“They are three-quarter sisters, so they are really closely related, but chalk and cheese.”
Mystical Pursuit’s performances on the track have earned her a shot in Melbourne, with Trinder keen to get a better guide in Saturday’s 1000m-race for three-year-old fillies whether the filly could be a Group One Thousand Guineas prospect.
“We want to give her her opportunity to see whether there is the possibility that she may be able to fit into a race in the spring there,” Trinder said.
“In the back of our minds we’d love to be able to get her to a race like the Thousand Guineas if she’s good enough. We’ve just got to find out whether she is good enough.”
Trinder said Mystical Pursuit had “a real demeanour to win” and is happy with her condition after her final gallop on Tuesday.
Mystical Pursuit is scheduled to travel to Melbourne by ferry overnight on Thursday and while Trinder says 1000m is as short as the filly wants, he believes Saturday’s race is a suitable kick-off.
“They’ll go quick and she’ll just be allowed to flow and build which is what I want early in her preparation because if she gets aggressive she doesn’t breathe totally fluently,” he said.
“It will be really interesting to see where she fits in. If she runs top four and I think she can build off that, that will be good enough for me.”
