Hustle Up points to Sunland Derby after prep win

Hustle Up improved his career record to 8 for 10 last weekend in his native New Mexico and is now a candidate for the state's richest race for Thoroughbreds, the Grade 3, $800,000 Sunland Derby, according to trainer Todd Fincher.

The 1 1/8-mile Sunland Derby is March 24. The first four finishers will earn Kentucky Derby eligibility points on a scale of 50-20-10-5. Fincher won last year’s Sunland Derby with Runaway Ghost.

Hustle Up faced open company for the first time Sunday in the $100,000 Mine That Bird Derby run at his base of Sunland Park. He led throughout for a length win over favorite Wicked Indeed, covering 1 1/16 miles in a sharp 1:41.31. For the effort, Hustle Up earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 83.

“He came out of the race pretty tired,” Fincher said Tuesday. “We’ll see how he bounces back. We’ve got plenty of time to get ready for the next one.”

Fincher said if he likes what he sees from the horse in the coming weeks, Hustle Up would proceed to the Sunland Derby.

Hustle Up has now won five stakes ranging in distances from 4 1/2 furlongs to 1 1/16 miles. He’s been headstrong and on the pace in his races against New Mexico-breds, and in an effort to relax Hustle Up for the test against open company, Fincher added a set of screens to his equipment Sunday. Screens fit like blinkers – a hood but no cups – and the mesh over the eye area can be calming.

“I think there’s definitely improvement with them,” Fincher said. “He fought a little bit, but he was definitely better than his previous races. He actually had a little spurt when he hit the quarter pole. In both of his route races before, he never had a spurt. He just galloped to the wire. He was good enough to win. He had a spurt Sunday, and he needed it.”

Fincher noted Wicked Indeed was closing fast in the Mine That Bird Derby.

Fincher trains Hustle Up, a son of Abstraction that he co-bred with Brad King, for the partnership of Dale F. Taylor Racing, Bobby McQueen, and Suzanne Kirby.

The Mine That Bird Derby was career Thoroughbred win No. 1,000 for Fincher as a trainer.

“It happened on a nice race,” said Fincher, a 47-year-old native of Denver. “That was pretty good.”

Fincher is a former jockey who started training in 1998.