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Sunland Park Derby Recap (3-24-19) - Winner: Cutting Humor ($6.60)
1st - CUTTING HUMOR - Made a nice forward move and put it all together at Sunland Park on Sunday. He stalked the pace under John Velazquez, took the lead in the lane, and gamely held off Anothertwistafate by a neck. The improving son of First Samurai is peaking at the right time, but I think the runner-up would have beat him with a better trip.
2nd - Anothertwistafate - Golden Gate Fields all-weather specialist handled the dirt just fine in a clear place finish at Sunland Park. He controlled the pace in his three wins at Golden Gate including the El Camino Real Derby, which was a win and you're in race for the 2019 Preakness Stakes. He picked up 10 Derby points for that win, and another 20 for his second place finish on Sunday. In the Sunland Derby, he stalked the pace and was in an uncomfortable spot between horses. Cutting Humor got the jump on him, and he was gaining ground on that one in deep stretch but ultimately ran out of real estate. It was a good experience to run well without a perfect trip, and ten furlongs appears well within reach. His sire Scat Daddy was responsible for last year's Triple Crown hero Justify, and if there is one horse from this race with the ability to make some noise on the first Saturday in May, it is this guy.
3rd- Mucho Gusto - Took more win money than he should have for Bob Baffert. The inside post forced Joe Talamo to get aggressive early, and that likely cost him any chance of winning. He was the fourth best Derby hope in his own barn (Game Winner, Improbable, Roadster), and I am not surprised that he finished a well-beaten 3rd. He is a solid horse but I never had him ranked on my Derby list. He ended up about six lengths behind the top two.
4th - Wicked Indeed - Looked like the best of the local runners for Steve Asmussen. He raced evenly throughout while failing to make any serious inroads in the lane.
5th - Eye Cloud - Raced in last place for at least the first six furlongs before showing some late interest to finish well clear of the rest at 164-1.
6th - Pasamonte Man - Maiden figured to picked off a few of the back markers, but 64-1 longshot was just in too deep.
7th - Hustle Up - Overachieving New Mexico-bred front runner tried to go with Mucho Gusto early, but the classy speed horses were just too much for him, and he faded in the lane.
8th - Collusionist - never made his way out of 8th place at 95-1 under Scott Stevens.
9th - Walker Stalker - Sat in 6th place for much of the running before weakening to last place at 89-1.
Article by Jarrod Horak
You can read all of my Derby blogs on my Kentucky Derby 2019 page, and my annual Triple Crown full card analysis from Churchill Downs, Pimlico Race Course, and Belmont Park will be available on my Runaway Horse Sales page later this spring.
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