A trio of California-breds are scheduled to ship to New Mexico's Sunland Park for Sunday's Grade 3, $500,000 Sunland Derby, an 85-point prep race on the Road to the Kentucky Derby (50-20-10-5).
Among them is G2 Los Alamitos Futurity winner Slow Down Andy, trained by Doug O'Neill. The 3-year-old son of Nyquist will likely be the morning-line favorite, despite finishing sixth in his 2022 debut in the G2 Risen Star on Feb. 19.
Also shipping in will be Straight Up G, trained by Richard Baltas. The son of Straight Fire shipped to Sunland last month to win the listed Mine That Bird Derby, and his resume includes a victory in the listed King Glorious Stakes and a second-place finish in the California Cup Derby.
The third California-bred entered is the Luis Mendez-trained Fowler Blue (Curlin to Mischief), last-out fourth in the Mine That Bird Derby.
Trainer Steve Asmussen has two entries in the Sunland Derby, including Classic Moment (Classic Empire), last-out third in the Mine That Bird Derby, and Costa Terra (Gun Runner), fifth in last year's G1 Breeders' Futurity.
Chrome King (Munnings) enters off a last-out win in the Turf Paradise Derby for trainer Miguel Hernandez; Mine That Bird runner-up Bye Bye Bobby (Quality Road) enters for trainer Todd Fincher; and Riley Allison Derby winner Pepper Spray (Tale of Ekati) rounds out the field.
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