Slip Mahoney, Red Route One are top names in Zia Park Derby
Slip Mahoney, a stakes winner in September at Churchill Downs, may be favored for the fifth time in a row when he breaks from the rail for trainer Brad Cox on Tuesday in the $300,000 Zia Park Derby in New Mexico.
A 3-year-old gelding by Arrogate, Slip Mahoney (7-5) was made the morning-line favorite on the strength of his neck victory two months ago in the 1 3/16-mile Bourbon Trail Stakes. He cuts back to 1 1/16 miles for this race at 6:17 p.m. EST.
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Gerardo Corrales rode to that Churchill victory and also a narrow, second-place finish in the muddy St. Louis Derby at Fairmount Park on Aug. 26. He keeps the ride Tuesday on Slip Mahoney, usually a pace chaser who is 3-for-5 as a post-time favorite.
Al Gold, best known for campaigning two-time Grade 1 winner Cyberknife, owns Slip Mahoney, who cost $150,000 as a yearling.
Red Route One (5-2), a deep closer who starts from post 5 in the field of seven 3-year-olds, finished a close second to How Did He Do That on Sept. 24 in the 1 1/8-mile Oklahoma Derby (G3). Trained by Steve Asmussen and ridden by Joel Rosario, the Winchell Thoroughbreds homebred colt who was sired by Gun Runner had stakes wins this year in the Bath House Row at Oaklawn and the West Virginia Derby (G3) at Mountaineer.
Arrowthegreat, who was 6-1 on the morning line and was likely to set the early pace, was scratched. He had been cross-entered for the Zia Park Derby and, instead, raced Sunday to a fourth-place finish at Del Mar in the Native Diver (G3).
Heroic Move (8-1) and No White Flags (8-1), who were allowance winners last month, were the co-third choices left on the morning line. Former Woodbine turf and synthetic runner Battle Strike (10-1), three-in-a-row dirt winner Two Rivers Over (12-1) and 2022 Remington Springboard Mile victor Wildatlanticstorm (20-1) complete the field.
The weather Tuesday at Zia Park in Hobbs, N.M., is sunny. The National Weather Service forecast a high of 56 degrees.