After Red Sun streaks into stakes debut in Miss Houston Turf

After Red Sun will be charting new territory at the age of 7 on Saturday night, when the sharp mare makes her stakes debut in the $75,000 Miss Houston Turf at Sam Houston Race Park.

The one-mile race is one of three stakes on the final card of the meet. The $75,000 Bucharest over seven furlongs is led by Nitrous, while Royal Prince, a half-brother to champion British Idiom, is the probable favorite for the $75,000 Bayou City.

The stakes will be showcased on a 10-race program that includes two allowances, one of which drew multiple stakes winner In the Navy. First post is 6:45 p.m. Central.

After Red Sun, who has won her last three starts, is one of 14 fillies and mares entered in the Miss Houston Turf, which will have a maximum gate of 12. The diverse group includes Valentines Day, the possible favorite off a third-place finish in the $75,000 Jersey Lilly in January at Sam Houston. Palio Flag and Our Iris Rose are a pair of well-bred fillies making their turf debuts.

“It’s a tough race,” said Clinton Stuart, who trains After Red Sun for her breeder, Claim to Fame Stable.

:: Bet horse racing on DRF Bets. Double Your First Deposit Up to $250. Join Now.

After Red Sun, who has won 10 of 30 starts, was claimed from her current connections for $20,000 following last year’s meet at Sam Houston. A few months later, she started her win streak in an optional $12,500 claimer on Aug. 24 at Canterbury from which she was claimed. She won again at a similar level Oct. 10 at Hawthorne and was claimed again, this time going back to Claim to Fame and Stuart. She did not race again until Feb. 25, when she won an optional $40,000 claiming race at Sam Houston.

“I lost her for a while and just got her back,” Stuart said. “We raised her. I tried to get her back, and every time we got out-shook. We went to Chicago and got her for $13,500.”

After Red Sun defeated Miss Houston Turf entrants Good Fight and Curlin’s Journey last out and earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 79.

“She ran a real good race,” Stuart said. “I thought it was stretching it pretty far to go a mile and a sixteenth off the layoff.

“She’s got a big heart. She likes her job and goes over there and runs.”

It was the third straight year After Red Sun has won a race at Sam Houston. She will break from post 12 under jockey Ezequiel Lara.

Our Iris Rose is a full sister to Grade 3 Sunland Derby winner Runaway Ghost. Her sire, Ghostzapper, gets 14 percent winners on turf. Palio Flag is by Curlin, who gets 12 percent winners on turf. Palio is a half-sister to three-time turf winner Great Sister Diane.

Nitrous, a three-time stakes winner who has placed in a pair of Grade 1 races, is making his second start of the year in the Bucharest. Stewart Elliott, who sits atop the jockey standings, has the mount for the meet’s leading trainer, Steve Asmussen.

Royal Prince enters the Bayou City for 3-year-olds over 1 1/16 miles on turf off a win in the Black Gold at Fair Grounds. Diego Saenz has the mount for trainer Brad Cox.