Stronghold is prepping for the Kentucky Derby in Mine That Bird fashion. Well, sort off. Mine That Bird, who won the 2009 Derby off a fourth-place finish in the Sunland Park Derby, famously vanned from the New Mexico track to Churchill Downs. Stronghold on Sunday won the Grade 3, $400,000 Sunland Derby - after vanning about 15 hours from his base at Santa Anita. His victory holds even more weight because of the long ship. Stronghold was sharp, tracking the pace in second en route to a 2 1/2-length victory. He covered 1 1/16 miles on a fast track in quick 1:42.64 and earned a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 89. “I thought it was a good race,” trainer Phil D’Amato said Tuesday. “I think he took a step forward this last time, finished strong through the lane. He came out of the race in good shape. He’s already back in his stall at Santa Anita.” :: KENTUCKY DERBY 2024: Derby Watch, point standings, prep schedule, news, and more D’Amato said vanning was the best option to get Stronghold to Sunland Park, which is located just across the New Mexico state line from El Paso, Texas. “It’s a tough place to get into these days,” he said. “It used to be a lot easier. When Tex Sutton was around, you could fly right into El Paso. Now, you’ve got to kind of have to van in from California, but it worked out okay. “It was about 15 hours or so. It was quite a van ride. Again, it’s not easy to get to nowadays. We’re kind of only reliant on flying our horses across country via Fed Ex and when you fly Fed Ex you have to fly into one of their hubs. So, it would have taken longer to get to Sunland flying than it would vanning, and that’s how we chose the transportation and it worked out well.” D’Amato said plans going forward for Stronghold are to be determined, with the goal to have one more start before the Kentucky Derby. The horse has 25 points, adding 20 Sunday to the five he earned for a runner-up finish in the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity in December. “I think we’re just going to play it day by day, try to find him the next best possible race to hopefully get us to the Kentucky Derby,” D’Amato said. “That’s the master plan. I’m just going to let him tell me in his training how much that race may or may not have taken out of him. But he shipped back well and going from that, we’ll find the next best prep. “We’ll take a look at races from Arkansas to Kentucky to California. I would say those are probably our three options.” D’Amato trains Stronghold for his breeders, Eric Waller and Sharon Waller. The horse is a January foal by Ghostzapper out of the Grade 2-winning mare Spectator. “The owner was just telling me every race he’s run has been at a different track, from Ellis to Churchill, all the way down to Sunland,” D’Amato said. “But he’s shown he’s very consistent that way and it’s a good trait to have.” D’Amato was racing at Sunland for the first time Sunday. The ontrack attendance was more than 15,000.  :: Subscribe to the DRF Post Time Email Newsletter: Get the news you need to play today's races!  “There were a lot of people,” he said. “Everybody was having a good time and it was good to see – and a great experience.” D’Amato also took notice of some of the décor at Sunland. It prominently features the most famous graduate of its biggest race – Mine That Bird.   “You go there and his picture is plastered everywhere throughout the track,” said D’Amato. Perhaps come May, there will be reason to add art of Stronghold.  :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.