Victor Likely Gets To Run for Roses

The Kentucky Derby trail cuts through Sunland Park on Sunday.

The 1â…› miles Sunland Derby, with its $800,000 purse and Grade III status, has drawn the attention of some accomplished horsemen.

The most celebrated is three-time Kentucky Derby winner Bob Baffert, who is sending a colt name Castaway to the track near El Paso.

	Sunday Sunland Park Derby: $800,000, Grade III, 1⅛ miles Purse: $800,000 Winner’s share: $400,000 TV: TVG, 5 p.m. Post time: 5:45 p.m.

Castaway is the 2-1 morning line favorite for the race that rewards $400,000 to the winner and almost assures the horse of Kentucky Derby eligibility. The bay colt won a division of the Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park last month.

Baffert will also saddle Stirred Up (8-1), who broke his maiden at Santa Anita Park earlier this month.

Second place in the Sunland Derby is worth about $176,000, which would also help any horse hoping to be one of 20 3-year-olds eligible for Kentucky on the first Saturday of May.

Baffert has a long history in New Mexico, having started his career as a quarter horse trainer at Sunland. He also took a horse named Real Quiet to the Indian Nations Futurity at The Downs at Santa Fe in 1997. Real Quiet ran third that day in Santa Fe, but won the Kentucky Derby the following year.

Todd Pletcher, an Eclipse Award-winning trainer, is bringing in Ender Kneivel, a chestnut gelding who is out of an A.P. Indy mare and may have the services of last year’s Kentucky Derby-winning jockey John Velasquez. Ender Kneivel, who broke his maiden last month at Gulfstream Park, is 6-1.

Pletcher, meanwhile, has New Mexico ties of his own. He began his racing career at 7 years old as a hot walker for his dad, Jake, at Ruidoso Downs.

Trainer Steve Asmussen offers Daddy Nose Best, whose earnings of $145,448, have him 19th on the current Derby money list. Daddy Nose Best (3-1) won the El Camino Real Derby.

The local hero is Isn’t He Clever (4-1), trained by Henry Dominguez. The bay gelded son of Smarty Jones won Sunland’s Riley Allison Futurity and Borderland Derby.

Rounding out the eight-horse field is No Spin (8-1), Tequila Factor (15-1) and Justanoldsong (20-1).

Meanwhile, Baffert will be seeking his fourth win in the Sunland Park Oaks, which is also Sunday. He will saddle the unbeaten filly Princess Arabella. Baffert’s Plum Pretty won last year’s Sunland Oaks, then went on to capture the Kentucky Oaks.
— This article appeared on page C2 of the Albuquerque Journal