Song of Navarone out to keep it perfect

SUNLAND PARK, N.M. Song of Navarone will attempt to make it a perfect 3 for 3 for the Sunland season and make a strong case for horse of the meeting honors in the $100,000 Sunland Park Handicap on Sunday afternoon. He will take on five rivals in the 1 1/8-mile headliner.

Song of Navarone has been idle since a gutty three-quarter-length score in the Curribot Handicap here on Feb. 15. In his first start of the year in early January, this 5-year-old son of Sultry Song proved equally determined in winning the Winsham Lad Handicap by the same three-quarters of a length.

Trained by Henry Dominguez, Song of Navarone starts sports a gaudy 4-1-0 record from his 5 local starts, perhaps one of the reasons he has so few competitors on Sunday. Antonio Castanon, aboard for the horse s last three wins, will once again be in the saddle on Song of Navarone, the 125-pound highweight.

The biggest obstacle to Song of Navarone s perfect season and the biggest wild card in the Sunland Handicap is the Chilean-bred Consul Romano. Competing exclusively in his native country, Consul Romano, the 120-pound second highweight, has compiled a 12-6-1 career mark from 24 starts with earnings of almost $213,000.

A 7-year-old son of the Irish-bred sire Indian Lodge, Consul Romano is now under the care of Chip Woolley and will be ridden by Joe Martinez.

* The Grade 1, $100,000 West Texas Futurity is also slated for Sunday with 10 juvenile Quarter Horses set to go 300 yards.

Mark It Famous was the fastest qualifier in the trials on April 3 and will once again be ridden by Saul Ramirez Jr.