Statebreds take the spotlight for New Mexico Classic Cup card
The undefeated Proceed is among a handful of 3-year-olds who will take center stage during the $2 million New Mexico Classic Cup program at Zia Park on Sunday. The card features 12 divisional stakes restricted to horses bred in the state, with eight of the races for Thoroughbreds and four for Quarter Horses.
The New Mexico Classic Cup is being run for the 10th time, and the series is an annual target for horsemen like Joel Marr, the trainer of Proceed. He has won more New Mexico Classic Cup races than any of his peers, 17, and has 10 horses set to start in six different stakes Sunday.
“If you have the breeds, this is the best day to be your best,” Marr said. “It’s the best purses, and it’s something that you have to train for and plan for.”
COLTS AND GELDINGS CHAMPIONSHIP (RACE 9)
KEY CONTENDERS
Proceed (Last 3 Beyers: 78-76-72)
◗ He’s been untested in three career starts, winning his races by a combined margin of 21 1/4 lengths.
“He’s obviously talented,” Marr said of the horse he trains for breeder Michael Stinson. “And he’s very intelligent, has a big heart, and loves to run.”
◗ Proceed will be making his first start since Feb. 22, when he defeated open company in the $120,220 Mine That Bird Derby at Sunland.
“He had a minor soreness, and we laid him off,” Marr said. “He’s grown up a little. He’s filled out, and he’s still growing. He’s doing really well.”
◗ Proceed will be cutting back in distance for the Colts and Geldings, a six-furlong race for 3-year-old males, for a chance to run with fellow New Mexico-breds.
“We’ve never sprinted before,” Marr said. “It will be a test. There should be a lot of speed in the race. We’ll find out if he’s able to sprint. He’s definitely talented.”
◗ The race Sunday could serve as Proceed’s springboard to next month’s $200,000 Zia Park Derby, according to Marr.
Mays Or Mantle (Last 3 Beyers: 52-65-90)
◗ He will be cutting back to a sprint distance, and his last win came at one turn in July, when he popped a career-high 90 Beyer Speed Figure for winning the 5 1/2-furlong Road Runner at Ruidoso in a sharp 1:03.64. In his most recent out, he was third in the 1 1/16-mile New Mexico State Fair Thoroughbred Breeders Stakes.
“He’s doing well,” said Henry Dominguez, who trains Mays Or Mantle for J. Kirk and Judy Robison. “I think he’ll run a big race.”
◗ Some of the other 3-year-olds of note on the card are Quarter Horses, with this year’s All American Derby winner, Too Flash for You, meeting last year’s All American Futurity winner, Handsome Jack Flash, at 440 yards in the $207,482 New Mexico Classic Derby.
ROCKY GULCH CHAMPIONSHIP (RACE 12)
KEY CONTENDERS
On Down the Road (Last 3 Beyers: 74-82-74)
◗ He is seeking his second win in the one-mile race for 3-year-olds and up that he also captured in 2012.
◗ On Down the Road enters this year’s renewal off a runner-up finish in the $60,000 Lineage Classic at Albuquerque on Aug. 23. He was edged by a nose by Thunder Agard, who returns Sunday.
“It was a good effort,” Marr said. “I don’t really think he saw the horse coming to him so much. I think we had a little bad luck to not get the win. But we got beat. The horse ran by him. Hopefully, he’ll be coming from slightly off the pace and have something to run at Sunday.”
That’s Who (Last 3 Beyers: 81-83-64)
◗ The second of three starters in the race for Marr, he was second by a head after setting all the pace in last year’s Rocky Gulch.
“He’s training well,” Marr said. “He needs to get away from the gate in good order and get position, and when he does that, he tries very hard. I think he’ll give his best effort.”
E Bar Way (Last 3 Beyers: 67-74-72)
◗ He is a stakes winner at the distance at Zia.
“He’s run some of his best races [at Zia],” said Marr.
Indy’s Rocket (Last 3 Beyers: 72-78-55)
◗ He’s seeking to win his fourth straight race in a streak that started in a $6,250 claimer in May and includes the $60,000 University of New Mexico Handicap at Albuquerque on Oct. 4.
FILLY AND MARE SPRINT(RACE 5)
KEY CONTENDER
Lakehouse Fun (Last 3 Beyers: 53-69-65)
◗ She’s won two stakes in her last three starts and enters Sunday’s race off a fifth-place finish in a Zia allowance. She was the even-money favorite and had trouble, noted her trainer, Dominguez.
“I think she will run really, really well,” he said. “The last time that she ran, she got [knocked] into the rail.”
JUVENILE FILLIES (RACE 8)
KEY CONTENDER
Muy Rapido (Last 3 Beyers: 62-58-64)
◗ She was a 6 1/2-length winner of the allowance prep in her first start since July.
“She gets better all the time,” Dominguez said.