Enchanted Outlaw poised to turn tables on Double Smart in Dominguez

Enchanted Outlaw missed by a nose last out in his first start in six months, and on Sunday will get a rematch with the horse who caught him on the wire, Double Smart. The pair meet in the $100,000 Albert Dominguez Memorial, a 1 1/16-mile handicap for older New Mexico-breds at Sunland Park. The race has drawn a diverse field of 12.

But favoritism should side with Enchanted Outlaw. He was making his first start since May in the $192,000 New Mexico Cup Classic at Zia Park on Oct. 31, and set the pace in the one-mile race before being edged by 17-1 shot Double Smart. The effort impressed Enchanted Outlaw’s trainer, Todd Fincher, who felt the horse was coming along a little slower than he would have liked leading up to the New Mexico Cup.

“I just really felt like he might need a race before he ran a big one [but] he ran huge,” Fincher said. “A speed horse that goes long, they have to be pretty dang fit to take fast fractions and go the whole way. I was very impressed with him.”

Enchanted Outlaw would seem to have reason to move forward with the race now under his belt. One of the top New Mexico-breds in training, he won the 2009 running of the New Mexico Cup Classic. One start later, he took the Dominguez by more than four lengths, with a career-high Beyer Figure of 91. Enchanted Outlaw will break from post 7 in defense of his title on Sunday, and will be ridden by Alfredo Juarez Jr.

Double Smart has raced once since the New Mexico Cup, and finished ninth in the $120,000 Johnie L. Jamison Handicap at Sunland on Dec. 12. He was cutting back to 6 1/2 furlongs for that race, and on Sunday will be moving back to two turns, the same as his last two stakes wins. Ramsey Zimmerman has the mount from post 8 for trainer Ray Ashford Jr.

The field for the Dominguez also includes Lefty Who, a multiple stakes winner of $599,294. The horse was fifth last out in the Jamison, and on the move to two turns might be setting the pace from his rail post.

Some Ghost, a winner of $893,302, has registered 10 of his 15 career wins at Sunland.