Mucho Amor starts season in allowance race

Mucho Amor, the odds-on favorite in four consecutive stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Emerald Downs last spring and summer, will have her 2020 debut in a $33,000 allowance race for fillies and mares Sunday at Golden Gate Fields.

The six-furlong race will be Mucho Amor’s first start outside of her age group in a career that includes three wins in eight starts. Mucho Amor was fourth in the Grade 2 Adirondack Stakes at Saratoga in 2017 when trained by Wesley Ward.

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Owned by Ten Broeck Farm, Mucho Amor was moved to trainer Blaine Wright before her first start in 2019. Last year, Mucho Amor had two wins in five starts, including a victory in the $50,000 Seattle Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at six furlongs at Emerald in May. She started her season in April with a win in an allowance race with a $40,000 claiming option at Golden Gate.

Mucho Amor was second by a neck in both the Kent Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs in June and the Irish Day Stakes at 1 1/16 miles in July before finishing last of six in the Washington Oaks at 1 1/8 miles in August at odds of 7-10. All three of those stakes were at Emerald.

By Mucho Macho Man, Mucho Amor resumed workouts at Golden Gate Fields in late January and has a steady pattern of works in the last two months. William Antongeorgi III will ride Mucho Amor for the first time. The filly typically races near the pace.

The allowance race drew a field of six and is the sixth race on a nine-race program that begins at 12:45 p.m. Pacific.

Ima Happy Cat, winner of the Hastings Stakes for fillies and mares at six furlongs at Emerald Downs last May, is likely to set the pace. Trained by Dan Markle, Ima Happy Cat led throughout in an allowance race at 5 1/2 furlongs at Golden Gate Fields on Feb. 8, prevailing by a neck over Gotham Desire. Ima Happy Cat will have Ricardo Gonzalez aboard.

Gotham Desire returned to finish fourth in an allowance race at six furlongs on March 1 after a troubled start. Gotham Desire drew the outside post in Sunday’s sixth race and will be ridden for the first time by Hall of Fame jockey Kent Desormeaux, who has relocated to Northern California this year.

In Sunday’s eighth race, an allowance race with a $25,000 claiming option at a mile, Desormeaux rides Sunblessed, winner of a maiden special weight race at a mile on Feb. 27.

Trained by Andy Mathis, Sunblessed is part of a field eight that includes Brilliant Bird, Golden Iris, Creative Romance, and Rose Princess. They were the first four finishers in a similar race on March 1, separated by 1 3/4 lengths. Brilliant Bird won by a nose over Golden Iris, who was a head in front of Creative Romance.