Cinco Charlie has accomplished more than most young horses as a five-time stakes winner, and he will be out to keep the good times rolling Saturday at Sunland Park in the $100,000 Mine That Bird Derby. The 1 1/16-race is the final local stepping-stone to the Grade 3, $800,000 Sunland Derby on March 22.
Read the Footnotes might have been more brilliant, and Samraat maybe had more heart, but of the Kentucky Derby prospects Rick Violette Jr. has trained, none has been in a better position at this point than Upstart, who has both brilliance and heart and currently ranks as the best Kentucky Derby prospect on the East Coast.
There was no change to the Derby Watch top 20 from a week ago in terms of the runners on the list nor to the Kentucky Derby future line produced by Mike Watchmaker, Daily Racing Form’s national handicapper, who last week made Dortmund the ante-post favorite at 6-1.
When bloodstock agent Mersad Metanovic purchased a Street Boss weanling for $10,000, he was hoping he’d made a bargain purchase of a good, useful horse. Little did he imagine that he’d just purchased a colt that would win the race he’d always dreamed of winning, the El Camino Real Derby.
Trainer Steve Asmussen said Cinco Charlie is scheduled to start in the $100,000 Mine That Bird Derby at Sunland Park in New Mexico on Saturday. The multiple stakes winner drew post 5 in a field of six for the 1 1/16-mile race. Casey Lambert has the mount on the horse, who is owned by Bill and Corinne Heiligbrodt.
The Grade 3, $300,000 Southwest Stakes will be run Sunday, said David Longinotti, director of racing for Oaklawn Park. The Southwest had been scheduled for Monday but was canceled due to a winter storm system that landed in Arkansas.
Handicapper Mary Rampellini ranks the top 3-year-old males and fillies pointing to races at Oaklawn Park.
A field of just eight 3-year-olds, led by Holy Bull Stakes winner Upstart, was drawn Monday for Saturday’s $400,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes. The Grade 2, 1 1/16-mile Fountain of Youth is the last of eight stakes on Saturday’s card, which also features the 2015 debut of the multiple Eclipse Award winner Main Sequence in the Grade 2 Mac Diarmida.
Handicapper David Grening ranks the top 3-year-old males and fillies pointing to races in New York.
Handicapper Mike Welsch ranks the top 3-year-old males and fillies pointing to races at Gulfstream.
