ELMONT, N.Y. - Max Player, Mystic Guide, and Happy Saver - the top three finishers from Saturday’s Grade 2 Suburban Stakes at Belmont Park - could be headed their separate ways before what their connections hope eventually is a reunion of sorts in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar on Nov. 6. Max Player recorded the most significant victory of his career in the Suburban, besting Mystic Guide by a neck over a sloppy main track. Max Player ran 1 1/4 miles in 2:01.95 and earned a career-best 101 Beyer Speed Figure. It was Max Player’s first victory since he won the Grade 3 Withers at Aqueduct in February 2020 for then-trainer Linda Rice. He had dropped six straight races since. Saturday’s victory earned Max Player a fees-paid berth into the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Steve Asmussen, who was given the horse by primary owner George Hall last summer following a third in the Travers, said there is not a definite next race picked for Max Player. He did seem to cast doubt on running back in five weeks in the Whitney on Aug. 7 at Saratoga. :: Access morning workout reports straight from the tracks and get an edge with DRF Clocker Reports “Off of Max Player stepping up in the Suburban and running the best race of his life, we will give him an extra amount of time before his next race,” Asmussen said Sunday. Noting that Max Player has run well at Belmont Park - he finished third in the Belmont Stakes last year in addition to his Suburban - Asmussen noted a race such as the Woodward, likely to be run in early October, “seems obvious” as the colt’s last race prior to the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Where he runs beforehand is what needs to be determined. With the New York Racing Association opting to move the Jockey Club Gold Cup to Saratoga this year, the Woodward returns to Belmont, where it was run from 1960 to 2005 before moving to Saratoga. In the Suburban, Max Player was put into the race earlier than he had been in his previous races by jockey Ricardo Santana Jr. Asmussen said “that needed to happen” based on his prior poor efforts in the Pimlico Special and Saudi Cup earlier this year. “Since the Pimlico Special we popped him away from the gates with Ricardo a couple of times,” Asmussen said. “It’s one thing to want to do it, and another thing to make it happen.” Mystic Guide came out of his first loss in three starts this year “a little tired,” but otherwise in good order, according to trainer Michael Stidham. In the Suburban, Mystic Guide was making his first start in 98 days, or since he won the $12 million Dubai World Cup at Meydan in March. Under Luis Saez, Mystic Guide made an inside move to get past pacesetting Moretti and appeared to brush off the rail around the far turn. He was late changing leads, and ultimately got tired in the stretch. “I’m sure Saez thought he had no choice but to drop to the inside to get through when he made his move, but that certainly had to take something out of him being on the worst part of the racetrack for sure,” Stidham said. “He got bounced off the rail on the turn when he tried to squeeze through there.” Mystic Guide and Stephen Foster winner Maxfield are both owned by Godolphin Racing. Maxfield is pointing to the Whitney, so Mystic Guide’s next-race options are between the Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 21 and the Jockey Club Gold Cup on Sept. 4. Stidham said he doesn’t like the idea of waiting another two months to run Mystic Guide, so the Pacific Classic will be under strong consideration. “Those are decisions that will be made after he has a workout and we see where we’re at with him,” Stidham said. Happy Saver, who won the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park in the fall, suffered his first defeat in six starts in the Suburban. He had just one one-mile race since in nine months, did not appear to handle the wet surface, and flattened out in the lane. “I think he ran a decent race,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “Second start of the year going a mile and a quarter, kind of having the widest trip around there, it can be a little tricky race from where they start it. Horses weren’t coming back much throughout the day. You hate to have a horse that’s never lost lose, but at the same time he ran hard.” Pletcher mentioned the Whitney or the Jockey Club Gold Cup for Happy Saver’s next race. Moretti, who finished fourth after setting the pace in the Suburban, is likely to make his next start in the $120,000 Birdstone, a 1 3/4-mile race he won last year at Saratoga on Aug. 5. *Silver State, whose victory in the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap on June 5 ran his winning streak to six, is part of a 30-horse contingent Asmussen has in Saratoga and is scheduled to work Tuesday as he prepares for a start in the Whitney, Asmussen said.