Super Stock gets Irad Ortiz Jr. for Zia Park Derby
Super Stock is 1-5 on the morning line for the $250,000 Zia Park Derby, and trainer Steve Asmussen hopes to see the new millionaire run like it on Tuesday.
“I want him to look like a winner every step of the way,” he said. “A no-doubt trip.”
The Zia Derby anchors the annual Land of Enchantment card. It’s made up of seven stakes worth a total of $775,000 and includes the $200,000 Zia Park Oaks led by Lady Mystify.
Super Stock, with Irad Ortiz Jr. to ride from post 3, is part of a field of five for the Zia Derby, which will be run over 1 1/16 miles.
Ortiz and Flavien Prat will ride at Zia Park for the first time on Tuesday. Ortiz has six mounts on the card (races 5-10), all for Asmussen. Prat is expected to ride in four races. Two of his rides will be for Peter Miller. He also has a mount for Peter Eurton and one for Bart Hone.
Super Stock hit $1 million in earnings in his last start, when third in the Grade 3 Oklahoma Derby at Remington Park. Following the Sept. 26 race, Super Stock was pointed to the Zia Derby.
“We’ve been a regular there for quite some time,” Asmussen said Friday. “We feel like we have horses that suit it.”
Asmussen has won the Zia Derby twice, with Reporting for Duty in 2007 and Real Dandy in 2005.
Super Stock was favored in the Oklahoma Derby. He had trouble at the start and found himself farther off the pace than intended when finishing 2 1/4 lengths behind winner Warrant. The runner-up from the race, Flash of Mischief, came back last week to defeat older rivals in the $100,000 Delta Downs Mile.
Super Stock will be looking for his third stakes win of the year, having won the $200,000 Ellis Park Derby in August and the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby in April. Super Stock races for Erv Woolsey and Asmussen’s father, Keith Asmussen.
“Hopefully, we can get a victory,” Asmussen said. “Obviously he’s a special horse for a lot of sentimental reasons, but on top of that, he’s a very good 3-year-old.”
Others making up the field include Pirate Junction, who won the $75,000 Charles Taylor Derby in August at the Downs at Albuquerque. Tesoro is an allowance winner in from Golden Gate, while Convention won the Butch Gleason Classic over older horses in October at Arapahoe Park.
None Above the Law was entered in the Zia Derby, but was expected to run in Sunday’s Cary Grant Stakes at Del Mar.
Lady Mystify invades for Oaks
Lady Mystify will be looking for her second consecutive stakes win when she starts as the anticipated favorite in the Zia Oaks.
The race, which will be run over 1 1/16 miles, also drew Pauline’s Pearl, winner of the Grade 3 Fantasy in April at Oaklawn Park, and Slammed, who is seeking her sixth consecutive win in a streak that includes four New Mexico-bred stakes.
Lady Mystify won the Grade 3 Remington Park Oaks in her most recent start Sept. 26, and the Beyer Speed Figure of 93 she earned is the best career number in the Zia Oaks. In her only other stakes appearance she was fifth in the Grade 3 Torrey Pines in August at Del Mar.
“It was nice to see her run so well in Oklahoma, to do what we think she’s capable of doing,” trainer Peter Eurton said.
Lady Mystify ran very competitively in her first two career starts, but took her game to another level when she made her two-turn debut in a maiden special weight last February at Santa Anita. She rolled by 18 lengths, and one start later beat winners in a two-turn allowance at Del Mar.
“She’s so much better at two turns,” Eurton said. “She gets into a nice rhythm.
“I think she’s a free-runner. I think she’s noted she can be on the lead, as she was when she won by 18. I think she’s also a great stalker. She’s got a lot of versatility about her.”
Eurton said tactics would be left to Prat. Lady Mystify will break from post 4.
“We drew well,” Eurton said. “We’ve got Flavien on her. Hopefully, the results will be just as good as Oklahoma.”
Lady Mystify races for Exline-Border Racing, SAF Racing, and Richard Hausman.
Tenfold tops Zia Championship
Tenfold will start as the probable favorite in the $75,000 Zia Park Championship one race after running second by a nose in the Downs at Albuquerque Handicap.
“We needed about a third of a jump, it looked like,” said Asmussen, who trains Tenfold.
The field for Tuesday’s 1 1/8-mile race includes Mine That Star, a half-brother to Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird.
◗ Mr Money Bags, a past winner of the Zia Derby, breaks from the rail in the $75,000 Sprint.
◗ Casual seeks to nail down her first stakes win in the $75,000 Distaff.
◗ Aquitania Arrival leads the $50,000 Juvenile, and Optionality tops the $50,000 Princess.