Sheriff Brown steps up in Riley Allison Derby

Owner Joe Peacock and trainer Todd Fincher would like to keep the $100,000 Riley Allison Derby on Sunday at Sunland Park in the family. The men will be represented by Sheriff Brown, a half-brother to last year’s winner of the race, Runaway Ghost.

Runaway Ghost would go on to win the Grade 3, $800,000 Sunland Park Derby for both Peacock and Fincher. The Riley Allison is the first local stepping-stone to that race, and the mile stakes has drawn a competitive field of 10. The group includes Nitrous, who makes his two-turn debut following a season in which he ran third in the Grade 1 Hopeful at Saratoga.

Sunday’s card also features the $65,000 Borderplex for 3-year-old fillies, a 6 1/2-furlong race that starts the local road to the $200,000 Sunland Park Oaks.

Sheriff Brown, by Curlin, and Runaway Ghost, by Ghostzapper, are both Peacock homebreds out of the multiple stakes-winning mare Rose’s Desert. But that’s about where the similarities end, Fincher said.

“There’s nothing to compare those two, looks, style-wise,” he said. “It’s just a total contrast.”

Runaway Ghost, who is set to make his first start since the Sunland Derby in a February stakes at Sunland, has won most of his races on the pace. Sheriff Brown, meanwhile, is a closer and outweighs his older sibling by about 200 pounds, Fincher estimated.

Sheriff Brown has made three starts and graduated last out in a maiden special weight at a mile Jan. 15 at Sunland. He closed for a 2 1/4-length win under Ry Eikleberry, who has the mount again from post 5.

“We are coming back in 12 days, but, really, if you watch the race, he ran from the quarter pole to the eighth pole,” Fincher said. “As soon as he made the lead, he didn’t run hard. Everything went so easy for him.”

The start was the horse’s first since being gelded, Fincher said.

“He wasn’t a mean horse, he just didn’t care about anything,” he said. “He’d gaze off at the sky, never put out any effort. He was lethargic, absolutely distracted. When we cut him, he was completely different. He got into his job, all four feet. He jumped right into it.”

Fincher looks forward to the next test Sunday.

“There’s some nice horses in there,” he said. “It’s a very competitive field. We’re going to get some answers.”

Nitrous last raced Nov. 10, finishing fourth in an optional $75,000 claimer over seven furlongs at Churchill. Luis Contreras has the mount from post 8 for trainer Steve Asmussen.

Asmussen also will send out Rotation, a full brother to multiple Grade 2 winner Tapiture who breaks from the rail under Alfredo Juarez Jr.

The chief contenders in the Borderplex appear to be Super Simple and Parade of Roses.