Evening Sun hopes to bounce back against stake experienced field

Evening Sun had such a dreadful trip in the $104,000 Wickerr Stakes at Del Mar July 23 that trainer Jeff Mullins is uncertain what to expect from the 6-year-old gelding in a competitive allowance race at a mile on turf on Saturday.

Evening Sun finished 10th by 5 1/4 lengths in the Wickerr Stakes at a mile on turf. Ridden by Hector Berrios, Evening Sun was difficult to handle on the backstretch and raced in traffic in the stretch, losing all chance.

Mullins said Evening Sun has been difficult to handle in morning training in the last several weeks, and could be a tough mount for Berrios on Saturday.

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“It will be up to the horse,” Mullins said. “He’s really on the muscle. I don’t know why. He’s never really calmed down since he came back in.”

Evening Sun won the Grade 3 San Francisco Mile at Golden Gate Fields in April 2022 and was given the rest of the year. He had his comeback in the Wickerr.

The allowance race drew a full field of 12, with two runners on the also-eligible list. Of the 14, six are stakes winners.

The race could have a solid pace set by Zarak, a turf stakes winner in Chile in 2021, who won his second start in the United States in an allowance race at five furlongs at Gulfstream Park July 8; and possibly Astronomer, who won the Golden Mile Stakes for 2-year-olds at a mile on turf in November 2021 and was 10th of 11 in an allowance race at 1 1/8 miles on turf at Del Mar on July 21 in his only subsequent start.

“Hopefully the jock can get him buried and he can come off the bridle,” Mullins said of Berrios.

The allowance race field includes Hit the Road, the winner of the Grade 1 Frank Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita in 2021 who was fourth in the Wickerr; Flashiest, who won the 2021 Oceanside Stakes at Del Mar and was fourth in the allowance race that included Astronomer; and Sarwar, who won an allowance race at a mile on turf at Del Mar July 22.

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