Alotaluck will be a short-priced favorite to accomplish what his dam did – win a derby – when he starts in Sunday’s $125,000 Mine That Bird Derby on the closing day card at Sunland Park in New Mexico. Alotaluck is out of the mare Colinda Dawn, who defeated males by nine lengths in the 2015 running of the Colorado Derby at Arapahoe Park. It was held at the same 1 1/16-mile distance of the Mine That Bird Derby, which is one of five stakes on Sunday’s card. The richest of the offerings is the $200,000 Sunland Park Handicap, with the stakes worth a total of $650,000. :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets. The Mine That Bird Derby and $125,000 Island Fashion for 3-year-old fillies are being run later than usual as this year’s Grade 3, $400,000 Sunland Park Derby and $250,000 Sunland Oaks were run in February rather than late March for 2024. Alotaluck was second in the Sunland Derby won by Stronghold, who was to have run back Saturday in the Santa Anita Derby. As for Alotaluck, he shows some strong works for the Mine That Derby for his dam’s owner, Eleanor Martin, and his dam’s old trainer, Ty Garrett. “She was fast,” Garrett said of Colinda Dawn. “She was a lot like him, had a high cruising speed. He’s a little taller, a little leggier than her. He’s a beautiful-striding horse, a lot of reach in his hind end and a lot of reach in his front end. He’s a lot like her in that they have very good air capacity.” Alotaluck earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 84 for his effort in the Sunland Derby, which is 19 points higher than the next last-race number in the Mine That Bird field of six. The group includes Norwegian Callum, the third-place finisher in the Turf Paradise Derby in March, with a Beyer of 65. Da Ringo and No Trouble finished a respective sixth and seventh last out in the Sunland Derby. Alotaluck picked up 10 Kentucky Derby points for his runner-up finish in the 1 1/16-mile race run Feb. 18. “We had an abscess pull out of his hind foot, on his heel, two days after the Sunland Derby,” Garrett said. “So we missed a little bit of time, otherwise we would have looked at some of the Kentucky Derby points races.” Garrett likes how Alotaluck has worked up to the Mine That Bird Derby, among his moves a bullet five-eighths in 1:00.40 on March 23 at Sunland. He also likes the development he’s seen since the Sunland Derby. “He ran a little spotty to me, dropped back a little going into the last turn,” Garrett said. “But he was excellent in the paddock. He’s a good-feeling horse. He was superb. I was not expecting him to be that well behaved. He enjoyed watching all the people. “He’s more mentally mature. He tended to get a little bit upset about things before and things don’t bother him nearly as much as they did. He’s still maturing. I don’t think we’ve seen the best of him yet.” Tracy Hebert has the mount on the Triple Crown nominee from post 3. Sunland Handicap Presidential invades from Oaklawn Park for the Sunland Handicap, which is for 3-year-olds and up over 1 1/8 miles. He faces a field of seven that includes 124-pound highweight Mine That Star. Mine That Star won last year’s Sunland Handicap and later in the season captured the Zia Park Championship at the same distance. He is moving back to two turns off a fourth-place finish in the Thomas Memorial on the undercard of the Sunland Derby. Presidential, who is the second highweight at 122 pounds, was second in the Zia Championship. In his most recent start, he was fifth in a one-mile allowance Feb. 25 at Oaklawn. The winner of the race, millionaire Silver Prospector, came back to run a close second in the Grade 3, $500,000 Oaklawn Mile last Saturday. Presidential earned a Beyer of 84 for his effort in the allowance, and the number is the best last-race Beyer in the Sunland Handicap. Luis Fuentes has the mount from post 2 for Courtlandt Farms and trainer Steve Asmussen. Ken Tohill will be aboard Mine That Star from post 6. Tulane Tryst, who is weighted at 120 pounds, comes off a fifth-place finish in a turf allowance at about a mile at Turf Paradise. Tulane Tryst’s last win came on dirt in a Turf Paradise allowance sprint Feb. 27 for which he earned a Beyer of 93. Alfredo Juarez Jr. has the mount from post 7. ◗ The Island Fashion drew Methods and Raspberry Wine, who finished fourth and fifth in the Sunland Park Oaks. ◗ The $100,000 Peppers Pride and $100,000 New Mexico State University are restricted to runners bred in New Mexico. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.