Sunland Park: Rebranded targets maiden win in Riley Allison Futurity

Rebranded will shake Strong Mandate and Tapiture on Sunday, when he seeks the first win of his career in the $100,000 Riley Allison Futurity at Sunland Park. He is the lone maiden in the one-mile race for 2-year-olds. The Riley Allison is the first local step toward the Grade 3, $800,000 Sunland Park Derby.

Rebranded faces seven others including stakes winners Cloud Harbor and Alsono.

Rebranded was purchased by Tony Pennington earlier this month with the hope he might develop into a candidate for the upcoming 3-year-old series at Sunland. Pennington purchased the horse privately, trainer Justin Evans said.

“He had been looking for the right horse, something to run in the Mine That Bird and Sunland Park Derby,” Evans said. “It looked like the horse would probably fit for us.

“He’s already run a mile and an eighth as a 2-year-old. He wanted to stretch out with his Tiznow breeding. We really liked him. He’s a big, beautiful horse.”

Rebranded, whose sire, Tiznow, won back-to-back runnings of the Breeders’ Cup Classic, is out of the stakes-winning mare Bayou Breeze. His female family includes Lu Ravi, a multiple Grade 2 winner of $1.8 million.

Rebranded launched his career at Saratoga in August when trained by Todd Pletcher. He was third in a maiden special weight sprint won by eventual Hopeful hero Strong Mandate, with Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club winner Tapiture second. He has made four starts, the latest of which was a fourth-place finish Nov. 7 in an Aqueduct maiden race.

The company he has been keeping bodes well for the horse Sunday, Evans said.

“He’s a maiden going in there, but one advantage is he’s run against Strong Mandate and Tapiture,” Evans said.

Rebranded arrived at Sunland two weeks ago, Evans said. The horse is one of two the trainer will send out in the Riley Allison Futurity. The other is Alsono, also owned by Pennington. Alonso won the $55,000 Governor’s Cup at Zia Park in his last start Oct. 15. He will be making his two-turn debut Sunday.

“The big question on Alsono is going to be, Can he route?” Evans said. “He’s trained well; trying to get him out of the sprint mode a little bit. The good part is that he’s not a horse that runs off the first part of it.

“He also has breeding to run a route.”

Alsono led throughout in the Governor’s Cup to defeat Cloud Harbor, winner of the $100,000 Gold Rush Futurity at Arapahoe Park in August.

Cloud Harbor also will be making his two-turn debut and gets pedigree support for the trip as a son of Grade 2 winner Rockport Harbor.