1-1/8 miles, dirt, G-III, $800,000…the last of the 50 pointers (except for the Lexington)
I’ve come to very much like this race over the past 10 years or so, mostly because it mixes a cocktail of hard-knockers, many from Cali and Oak Lawn, with top notch locals.
The hard-knockers to whom I refer are “guys” like Daddy Nose Best, Governor Charlie and Chitu, winners in recent years. Winning trainers, since 2003, range from Bob Baffert, Doug O’Neill and Steve Asmussen to Henry Dominguez, Mike Machowsky and Shannon Ritter with a little Jeff Bonde and Tom Amoss thrown in for good measure.
Winning jocks include Marty Garcia, Mike Smith, Gary Stevens and Julien Leparoux along with Christian Santiago Reyes and Ricardo Jaime.
Much of the same today with the Nationals, Baffert, O’Neill and Pletcher, among them, sending in three years olds to compete with locals, like Miguel Hernandez and Greg Green.
So what do we have?
I contend that a few of the combatants in today’s Sunland Derby would have been world beaters in yesterday’s horrendous Spiral (#WeAllFallDown).
#3 Bronze Age….Off the bat, here comes Baffert with one of his “B” players, Bronze Age, the fave at 3-1 ML. This is familiar territory for Double-B similar to his dropping Governor Charlie into this race in 2013. The Mineshaft colt looks ready for the step-up after popping a 93 Beyer last out at Santa Anita to break his maiden. But wait…..that was after losing both his two-year old and three-year old debuts by a combined 23-1/4 L. Backers will say that the colt was a typical young dawdler in his first two races. There might be some truth to it given his terrific work coming into this. Marty Garcia softens the leather for this and he won on both Chitu and…..Governor Charlie. Take a good look at Bronze Age’s form. Before punching your tickets, ask yourself if there are distance and stamina issues for this likely front runner.
#12 Conquest Mo Money….The New York-bred, out of Uncle Mo, is trained by Sunland resident Miguel Hernandez, who is currently fourth in earnings and tied for third in wins (21%) in the track’s trainer standings. Undefeated in three career races, including wins over Irap and Wine and Divine, both competing in this race, CMM has yet to venture out of Albuquerque. Those that know how this track plays will consider that a big plus and, perhaps so. With his get-out-quick style, he might be ok out of No. 12. Jorge Carreno rides, and while not a well-known name, the guy is approaching 1,400 career wins with more than $13 million in purses. However, those who follow this sport daily might remember Carreno for his misjudging the distance in a race in 2007 (See YouTube). Uncle Mo has popped out some pretty good NY-bred Keeneland sellers. Conquest fetched just $8,500, a great investment that has paid off nicely as the lad has about $133K in winnings. At 9-2 ML, it could be feast or famine today, as he either electrifies or goes into hibernation out of the post. Note: Jock-trainer together are 32% wins in 76 races.
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