Lone Star Park Mile tops three-stakes card; Mocito Rojo should get nice setup

There’s no shortage of speed signed on for the $75,000 Lone Star Park Mile on Sunday, and the potential pace scenario could be a boon for Mocito Rojo.

“It looks like the race sets up well for him,” trainer Shane Wilson said.

The Lone Star Mile is one of three $75,000 stakes on the card, alongside the Grand Prairie Derby and Lone Star Park Turf. The races replace some of the richer offerings on hiatus this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, among them the Grade 3, $300,000 Steve Sexton Mile.

Mocito Rojo won that race last meet at Lone Star and went on to capture the Evangeline Downs Mile.

“With both tracks canceling stakes, we’re really excited that Lone Star came back and has this $75,000 race,” Wilson said. “We have a race to point to.”

The circumstances have led to a deep field of nine. Wind of Change is a Group 3 winner in Brazil invading from Gulfstream Park, while Runaway Ghost is a Grade 3 winner looking for his seventh career stakes victory. Pioneer Spirit brings four stakes wins to the table, while the rail-drawn Sleepy Eyes Todd exits a wire-to-wire win in the $54,000 Bosselman/Pump and Pantry Stakes at Fonner Park.

“It looks like a lot of pace, a lot of horses on the inside that want to be in front,” Wilson said. “We want to run our race, stalk, and hopefully we’re good enough to get to them.”

Mocito Rojo, a seven-time stakes winner for Wayne T. Davis, is making his first start since February. He will break from post 7 under Gerard Melancon.

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Pioneer Spirit is situated just inside in post 6 with jockey Ramon Vazquez.

“He’s usually close to the lead, if not on the lead,” trainer Robertino Diodoro said.

Pioneer Spirit was fourth in the $150,000 Oaklawn Mile in his last start April 11. The winner of that race, Tom’s d’Etat, was to run back in the Stephen Foster on Saturday at Churchill Downs. The runner-up, Improbable, came back to win the Hollywood Gold Cup at Santa Anita.

Pioneer Spirit, meanwhile, spent some time at a Texas farm before returning to the work tab at Lone Star.

“He’s doing well,” Diodoro said. “We gave him a short little break out at Highlander, a little freshening. He ran some hard races at Oaklawn, and we thought we’d freshen him up for the summer.”

Pioneer Spirit’s meet at Oaklawn included a win over Mocito Rojo in a division of the $100,000 Fifth Season.

Hunka Burning Love, who starts from post 5 under David Cabrera, is looking for his fourth straight win. He’s captured his last three races by a combined margin of nearly 17 lengths, and they include a pair of victories at a mile at Will Rogers Downs in May.

“The two races at Will Rogers, he set ridiculously rapid fractions and instead of quitting, he just opens up late,” trainer Karl Broberg said. “We shortened him up the last time, and he ran big there.”

Hunka Burning Love cut back to six furlongs for a Lone Star allowance June 10 and for his front-running win earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 94. It’s the best last-race number in the Lone Star Mile.

“He’s such a cool horse,” Broberg said. “He absolutely wants to just go, go, go. It looks like we’re going to get a horrible setup in there. There’s so much speed in that race, and he only has one way.”

A pace meltdown would benefit Vangilder, a stakes winner and the lone closer in the field Sunday.

Curlin’s Journey is part of a field of seven fillies and mares for the Lone Star Park Turf at a mile. She won an allowance prep over a number of these, including multiple stakes winners Quebec and Cowgirls Like Us.

The local score by Curlin’s Journey came before an empty grandstand, as Lone Star had not yet opened to patrons at the time of her win June 3. The scene was surreal, trainer Dallas Keen said.

“I’ve never been in the twilight zone, but that’s what I’d expect it to be like,” he said.

Curlin’s Journey won the allowance in a sharp 1:34.44, catching leader Quebec.

“I’d like to see her get a legit pace,” said Keen, who has again given the mount to Danny Sorenson.

Curlin’s Journey was Grade 3-placed last year at Del Mar and is looking for her first stakes win Sunday.

“She tries hard,” Keen said. “She’s very intelligent, very kind, and knows what she has to do when she walks into the paddock. She’s very confident and a really classy mare.”

Little Menace will be making his two-turn debut in the Grand Prairie Derby. He is part of a field of eight for the 1 1/16-mile race that also drew stakes winners Sir Rick and Gold Pilot.

Little Menace was stakes-placed in March, when he ran second to Long Weekend in the $90,000 Gazebo at Oaklawn. He gets pedigree support for the stretchout from six furlongs as a son of Into Mischief and the Arch mare Pay Attention. Stewart Elliott has the mount from post 2 for trainer Steve Asmussen.