I remember watching one of the first runnings of the Sunland Park Derby several years ago and thinking it was an interesting ungraded Kentucky Derby prep. It was like shipping your horse to Turf Paradise just to get him away from the SoCal powerhouses – see if you have the talent, then try to find earnings after the fact.
Flash forward to today: the first edition of the race as a G3, meaning the winner vaulted from zero-to-I’m-in-the-Derby in about 1 minute & 49 seconds.
When Endorsement overtook Conveyance mid-stretch and pulled clear to a 3 length victory, he stamped his ticket (and gave his owner – WinStar Farm – a 4th potential Derby starter.
In a semi-ironic twist, when Sunland Park originally wanted to card a set of preps for the Oaks and Derby, they found a sponsor … in WinStar Farm. In fact, today’s race is still listed on the track’s website as the WinStar Derby.
I’m not going to claim the fix was in, but I do love the coincidence of it.
Last weekend I said that it was ok to like Lentenor on the Derby Trail and having it have nothing to do with his connection to Barbaro. The same is true today with Endorsement – just because Mind That Bird won the Kentucky Derby off a 4th place finish in the Sunland Derby last year, doesn’t mean Endorsement is more of a lock than any other of the 35+ horses still in the pool.
There is a big difference: Lentenor has the same DNA as a Derby winner. Endorsement beat a fading favorite to win a race a Derby winner couldn’t.
People often forget that Mine That Bird made the I’m In! list mainly with his 2yo Canadian (champion) campaign earnings. He wound up in the Sunland Derby because his new owners wanted to run him in a prep close to home.
The odds of a smaller Derby prep – so in its infancy that it’s just been made graded – producing back to back winner’s is unlikely.
Sunland Park could make a case for being the southwestern cousin of Oaklawn Park: slots, middle-of-nowhere location, big purses, near enough to a big circuit to siphon horses, etc.
Remember the first year Oaklawn put major publicity behind its Derby prep, Smarty Jones aced both tests. But Afleet Alex couldn’t follow the same trajectory the next year. I have a feeling we’re in the same boat with Mine That Bird and Endorsement.
Let’s what happens in 5 weeks – it’s a long time to ponder whether I might be willing to endorse the WinStar Derby efforts.
