Secular Nation back from long layoff in Malouff Handicap

Secular Nation and Bourbon Cowboy will be giving up recency to a number of fellow stakes winners Sunday, when they make their first starts of the year in the $60,000 J.R. Malouff Handicap at the Downs at Albuquerque.

But none of their rivals come out of stronger races.

Secular Nation was second in the $100,000 Zia Park Sprint in his last out Nov. 27, and four of the six horses from it returned to win their next start. Bourbon Cowboy, the 123-pound highweight Sunday, exits a third-place finish in the 2019 edition of the Grade 3 Count Fleet at Oaklawn, finishing behind eventual champion Mitole and Grade 1 winner Whitmore.

Secular Nation has been working right along at Albuquerque, where he won the Duke City Stakes in 2018.

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“He’s really been doing good,” trainer Todd Fincher said. “Off a layoff that long, you hate to come back in a stakes. But there’s not many options with all that’s been going on.”

The coronavirus pandemic has disrupted racing in New Mexico, forcing the cancellation of the meet at SunRay Park and the early closure of Sunland Park.

“Hopefully, I have him fit for this and he’ll run good,” Fincher said.

He knows Sunday’s nine-horse field is a tough one. Share the Upside is a stakes winner coming off an allowance win on turf June 1 at Lone Star Park. Favorable Outcome is a Grade 2 winner who captured the $20,000 Front Range at Arapahoe in his last start July 12. American Dubai also won a stakes in his last start, taking the $25,000 Ruidoso Downs Sprint on June 14.

But none of those races compare to the one Secular Nation exits. He finished two lengths behind Chief Cicatriz in the Zia Sprint, a six furlong race that went in 1:08.84. Following the race, Chief Cicatriz, who is a Grade 3 winner, came back to take the KLAQ Stakes at Sunland. Silver Ride, who was third in the Zia Sprint, returned to win an Oaklawn allowance. Pendleton, a multiple stakes winner who was fourth, came back to win a Sunland allowance – as did sixth-place finisher Black Ops.

The Malouff, at six furlongs, is for 3-year-olds and up. Secular Nation will break from post 3 under jockey Alfredo Juarez Jr.

“He likes to go to the front,” Fincher said. “If he’s not on the lead, he’ll be real close.”

Fincher also sends out Flash of Humor, a multiple allowance winner who starts from post 5.

“He’ll be coming from off the pace,” Fincher said. “There’s plenty of speed in the race, which might be an advantage for him.”

The field includes Raagheb and the stakes-placed Conquest Smartee, who is a full brother to Grade 1 winner Square Eddie.