Movin On after her second Peppers Pride win in five months.

Peppers Pride was such an important horse for New Mexico that her home state has more than one race named in honor of her, a millionaire who was undefeated in 19 starts. One of the offerings, the $85,000 Peppers Pride Handicap, goes Sunday at Sunland Park and has drawn Movin On, the winner of the Peppers Pride Stakes held in November at Zia Park.
Sunland’s race, the eighth on the card, will be run at a mile and is restricted to fillies and mares bred in New Mexico. The conditions are the same as the Peppers Pride at Zia.
Movin On wired older rivals in the Peppers Pride in November, which was part of the New Mexico Cup program at Zia. She will face the third-place finisher from that race, Hennessy Express, as part of an eight-horse field at Sunland.
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KEY CONTENDERS
Movin On, by Indian Firewater
(Last 3 Beyers: 56-69-48)
◗ She’s raced once since the Peppers Pride at Zia, taking on open company Jan. 26 at Sunland. She set the pace to the later stages of a mile allowance and finished seventh. Since the start, Movin On has turned in a strong trio of five-eighths drills, among them a bullet 59.40 seconds March 1 at Sunland.
◗ Joel Marr trains Movin On, and also trained Peppers Pride. He has given the mount to Tracy Hebert.
◗ Movin On races for her breeder, Donnell Echols, and is a half-sister to stakes winner E Bar Way, an earner of $296,539.
◗ Marr has an additional starter in the Peppers Pride in Pink Cadillac, a stakes winner coming off a third-place finish in an optional claiming route for statebreds Feb. 24 at Sunland.
Hennessy Express, by Roll Hennessy Roll
(Last 3 Beyers: 65-68-75)
◗ The highweight at 122 pounds, she’s won back-to-back optional-claiming races since finishing third to Movin On in the Peppers Pride at Zia. Both wins came against statebreds at a mile, and for one she earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 75.
◗ Hennessy Express, who is a two-time stakes winner, enters Sunday’s race off a third-place finish in the same open-company allowance Movin On comes out of.
◗ Trainer Todd Fincher has given the mount to Roimes Chirinos.
Wedding Dance, by Attila’s Storm
(Last 3 Beyers: 65-38-35)
◗ She made her two-turn debut in an optional claiming race at a mile Feb. 24 at Sunland and wired her rivals for a 2 3/4-length win. She earned a career-high Beyer of 65.
◗ She is a full sister to three-time stakes winner Go for a Stroll, an earner of $366,013.
McWend, by McKenna’s Justice
(Last 3 Beyers: 52-52-40)
◗ She won the $100,000 New Mexico Breeders’ Oaks in her two-turn debut March 24 at Sunland.


