Mubtaahij draws rail for Lone Star Park Handicap

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – Grade 1 winner Mubtaahij, who in his last start was third in the Dubai World Cup, drew the rail in a field of five for the Lone Star Park Handicap. The Grade 3, $200,000 race will be run on Sunday.

Mike Smith has the mount on Mubtaahij for trainer Bob Baffert, the same team that won last year’s Lone Star Park Handicap with Danzing Candy and Saturday’s Preakness with Justify.

The complete field for the Lone Star Park Handicap, from the rail: Mubtaahij, Smith; Full of Luck, Flavien Prat; Shotgun Kowboy, Luis Quinonez; Fear the Cowboy, Luis Negron; South Beach, Iram Diego.

Mubtaahij, Full of Luck, and Fear the Cowboy are all nominated to the Grade 1, $500,000 Gold Cup at Santa Anita, which runs on Saturday. Entries for the 1 1/4-mile race were to be taken on Wednesday.

The Lone Star Park Handicap will be run over 1 1/16 miles. Mubtaahij is the 124-pound highweight and the even-money favorite on Lone Star’s morning line. The race will go as the ninth with a scheduled post of 6:42 p.m. Central.

Mubtaahij last raced March 31, finishing third to winner Thunder Snow in the Dubai World Cup at Meydan. He races for Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid al Maktoum.

Iram Diego won 10 races at Lone Star from Friday through Sunday. Nine of the wins came for Steve Asmussen, who trains South Beach.

Asmussen won 15 races from last Friday through Sunday, with 10 of those wins coming at Lone Star. He also won four stakes at Pimlico – all with jockey Ricardo Santana Jr. – and a maiden race at Belmont Park. Asmussen on May 5 became the second trainer in North American history to win 8,000 races for Thoroughbreds.

◗ Grade 2 winner Patrona Margarita is part of a five-horse field for the $65,000 Got Koko division of the Texas Stallion Stakes on Saturday at Lone Star Park. Jamie Theriot has the mount from post 4 for trainer Bret Calhoun.