Mucho Gusto, Anothertwistafate expected for Sunland Derby

Mucho Gusto and Anothertwistafate are among the 3-year-olds Sunland Park officials are expecting for the Grade 3, $800,000 Sunland Derby. The post position draw for the March 24 race, which carries eligibility points for the Kentucky Derby, will be held on the New Mexico track’s simulcast signal Sunday.

“We’re hoping to have a field of 10 to 12,” Dustin Dix, Sunland’s director of racing, said Friday.

Dix said the draw will begin at noon Mountain on Sunday. It will be a “nuts and bolts” presentation hosted by Tom Dawson, Dix said, with further commentary during the track’s pre-race handicapping show Sunday.

The 1 1/8-mile Sunland Derby will dole out Kentucky Derby eligibility points to its first four finishers on a scale of 50-20-10-5. There are six other stakes on the Sunday card at Sunland, with the races worth a total of $1.5 million. The card will include the $200,000 Sunland Park Oaks, which carries points for the Kentucky Oaks.

Dix said Sunland will run 12 races in all on March 24, with first post 12:50 p.m. Last year the track handled $4.27 million from all sources on its 12-race Sunland Derby Day card, a record for New Mexico.

Mucho Gusto has won 3 of 4 starts, with his most recent out a 4 3/4-length victory in the Grade 3 Robert B. Lewis on Feb. 2 at Santa Anita. He earned a Beyer Figure of 90. Mucho Gusto’s subsequent works include a five-eighths drill in 57.80 seconds March 10 at Los Alamitos. Bob Baffert trains Mucho Gusto for Michael Petersen.

Anothertwistafate also has won 3 of 4 starts, with his most recent out a seven-length victory in the $100,000 El Camino Real Derby on Feb. 16 at Golden Gate. He earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 94. Blaine Wright trains Anothertwistafate for Peter Redekop.

Dix said a flight with horses from Southern California is due to arrive Wednesday.

Others expected for the Sunland Derby include Hustle Up, the winner of last month’s $100,000 Mine That Bird Derby at Sunland. He is trained by Todd Fincher, who won last year’s Sunland Derby with Runaway Ghost.

Mr Money Bags also has been under consideration for the race following an 11 1/2-length victory in the Jim’s Orbit division of the Texas Stallion Stakes at Sam Houston.

Nominations for the 1 1/16-mile Sunland Park Oaks were to be released late Friday, Dix said.

Baffert told Daily Racing Form last week that Chasing Yesterday, a Grade 1 winner and half-sister to Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, was pointing to the Sunland Park Oaks.

Sunland officials are also hoping to draw multiple Grade 1 winner Bellafina.

The night before the Sunland Derby there will be an ontrack gala raising funds for Alzheimer’s disease research that will be headlined by country artist Jack Ingram.

– additional reporting by Jay Privman