Downs at Albuquerque rematches Cornhusker top two

Smack Smack and Shotgun Kowboy, who finished a neck apart when first and second in last month’s Grade 3 Cornhusker at Prairie Meadows, are set to meet again Saturday night in the $175,000 Downs at Albuquerque Handicap at the New Mexico track.

Smack Smack is the 122-pound highweight for the Downs at Albuquerque, which will be run over 1 1/8 miles. He will break from the rail in the eight-horse field and is to be ridden by Shane Laviolette. Smack Smack won two stakes last year in New Mexico, including the $165,000 Zia Park Distance Championship at 1 1/8 miles in November.

Shotgun Kowboy was assigned 121 pounds and will break from post 5 under Jareth Loveberry. Shotgun Kowboy won last year’s Grade 3 Oklahoma Derby and this spring ran second in both the Grade 3 Lone Star Park Handicap and Grade 3 Texas Mile.

Others in the Downs at Albuquerque field include Pain and Misery, who was third in the Cornhusker, and the multiple stakes winners Ol Winedrinker Who, Forest Mouse, and Code West.

The race goes as the sixth on a program that starts at 6:05 p.m. Mountain. It will be supported by the $50,000 Duke City Sprint, which serves as the 3-year-old debut of the multiple stakes winner Bring It On Dude. The field of nine also includes He’s a Tiger, who in February ran third in the Baffle Stakes at Santa Anita.