Lemon Muffin sitting on a big effort

Lemon Muffin might have been bred in Kentucky, but she’s an Arkansas girl at heart.

The winner of last season’s Grade 3 Honeybee at Oaklawn Park while still a maiden, Lemon Muffin is back in the entries in Hot Springs, Ark., on Sunday.

Lemon Muffin goes in the eighth race, a first-level allowance for fillies and mares over 1 1/16 miles. She is part of a field of 12.

“Lemon Muffin, I think, likes this area code,” said trainer D. Wayne Lukas. “She ran her best race here and I couldn’t believe how well she worked this week. I think she has an affinity for the racetrack.”

Lemon Muffin, who on Dec. 9 breezed five-eighths on a good track in 1:01, is the class of Sunday’s field as a Grade 3 winner with earnings approaching $400,000. She also owns the field’s best last-race Beyer Speed Figure, an 82, for a runner-up finish at this level Nov. 13 at Churchill Downs.

In that race, Lemon Muffin came out of the 11-hole going 1 1/16 miles and closed from ninth in the mud. She will break from post 3 on Sunday, under jockey Keith James Asmussen.

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“She should be laying in the upper half,” Lukas said. “I don’t see her totally on the pace. I think she’ll probably be laying second, third, fourth, somewhere in there. The better post will help us all the way around.”

Lukas hopes the race Sunday will be a springboard to a big meet for Lemon Muffin, a 3-year-old by Collected who races for Aaron Sones, Julie Gilbert, and Harrison Sones.

“I want to get this one out of the way, and maybe look for something more ambitious,” said Lukas.

Let’s Duet should get good support as a four-time winner. She closed for fourth in the same Nov. 13 race as probable favorite Lemon Muffin. Julien Leparoux has the mount from post 9 for trainer Kenny McPeek.

In Just My Heels is looking for her third straight win. She’s won back-to-back allowance races at Horseshoe Indianapolis. Last season, she won her maiden at Oaklawn, where her dam, High Heels, captured the Grade 2 Fantasy. Rafael Bejarano has the mount from post 8 for trainer Ron Moquett.

Contour was third in a conditioned allowance at Remington Park in her last start. She is a half-sister to Unload, a stakes winner of more than $250,000. Cristian Torres has the mount from post 6 for trainer Abel Ramirez-Rodriguez.

Musical Note won an entry-level allowance in Indiana in August. She is from the stakes-winning mare Blonde Bomber. Ramon Vazquez has the mount from post 7 for trainer Brad Cox.

◗ Race 6 on Sunday is a maiden special weight for 2-year-olds fillies that drew Avery’s Mischief, a daughter of Curlin and the Grade 1-winning millionaire Mia Mischief.

Avery’s Mischief will face Achieve, who is seeking to become the fifth next-out winner to emerge from a May maiden special weight at Churchill won by Vodka With a Twist, the eventual runner-up in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.

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