Retama Park: Flying Corona still out for stakes win

Fly Corona, the fastest qualifier from the July 2 trials, has drawn the rail for Saturday's $203,100 Retama Park Derby for 3-year-olds Saturday evening at the suburban San Antonio track.

The 400-yard Retama Park Derby could give the well-traveled Fly Corona his first stakes win in his 11th start. He finished second in the Dash For Cash Juvenile at Lone Star Park last October and a troubled ninth as the 9-5 favorite in the Remington Park Derby in Oklahoma on April 16.

Owned by Fast and Furious LLC, Fly Corona started at his fifth track when he won a division of the Retama Park Derby trials by a length, pulling clear near the finish. He ran 400 yards in 19.70 seconds. The trial was his first start for trainer Eusevio Huitron, who has four of the 10 qualifiers in Saturday's final, including trial winners Awe Contraire, Buggatti, and Lady Nayen.

Awe Contraire and Lady Nayen are the only fillies in the final.

Awe Contraire has had a checkered past. The filly won a division of the Texas Challenge Juvenile trials and the subsequent final at Sam Houston Race Park last summer, but was disqualified from both victories after she tested positive for the breathing medication clenbuterol in the time trials. Because of the positive in the trials, Awe Contraire should have not started in the final and was disqualified from both wins. Both purses were redistributed, and Huitron was hit with a 15-day suspension and $750 fine.

This year, Awe Contraire has won 2 of 4 starts and was second in the Sam Houston Derby Challenge at Sam Houston in May.

Lady Nayen won for the second time in her eight-race career in the Retama Park Derby trials. The final will be her second stakes appearance. Last December, she was promoted from third to second after a roughly run Evangeline Downs Futurity in Louisiana.

Corona Rare and The Steel Wave, second and third to Lady Nayen in the trials, are seeking their first stakes win. Corona Rare was fifth in the Texas Classic Futurity at Lone Star Park last November. The Steel Wave was fifth in the West Texas Derby at Sunland Park in April. He was beaten a half-length by Lady Nayen in the Retama Park trials after being bumped at the start.