Dave’s Enchantment, a 6-year-old New Mexico-bred son of Attila’s Storm, picked up his sixth win from 21 career starts.
Source: Sunland Park Racetrack and Casino
Photos: Courtesy Coady Media
Trained by Alberto Amparan for owner Allen J. Kincaid, Dave’s Enchantment was far behind a fast pace, with dueling leaders Leave Them Behind and Blooming Resource setting a quick tempo. Prohibitive post time favorite Mojica rallied three-wide around the far turn and appeared to take command at the top of the lane under Jose Vazquez.
Photos Courtesy Coady Media
Amparan found another gear under Dave’s Enchantment, who ran down Mojica in the final yards to win by a neck. The final time of 1 minute, 1.59 seconds eclipsed the track record for 5 1-2 furlongs, set in 2008 by Fearless Anthony of 1:01.62.
Dave’s Enchantment, a 6-year-old New Mexico-bred son of Attila’s Storm, picked up his sixth win from 21 career starts. He was a well-beaten fifth in the Jamison Memorial Stakes here on Feb. 9. Bred by Mr. & Mrs. Allen James Kincaid, Dave’s Enchantment earned his first stakes win since capturing the 2024 O.D. McDonald at Albuquerque Downs. His win in the Mt. Cristo Rey Stakes brings his career earnings to more than $221,000.
Thanks to a second place in Saturday’s Grade 2 Louisiana Derby, Pavlovian earned 50 qualifying points and remains in play for a spot in the starting gate for the May 2 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs.
Photo of Pavlovian in Sunland Derby Courtesy Coady Media
Pavlovian, sent off at odds of more than 21-to-1 in the Louisiana Derby on Saturday, was beaten a head by post time favorite Emerging Market, who earned 100 points to move into second on the Kentucky Derby leaderboard behind Fulleffort, recent winner of the Jeff Ruby Stakes at Turfway Park.
Pavlovian, trained by Doug O’Neill for owner Reddam Racing LLC, was a narrow winner of the $500,000 Sunland Derby on Feb. 15. His win that day earned him 20 qualifying points for the Run for the Roses. The field for the 1 1/4 mile opening leg of the Triple Crown is filled with the 20 horses who have earned the most qualifying points.
A son of Pavel, Pavlovian currently ranks third on the leaderboard with 70 points.
Coming Up
$98,598 West Texas Maturity headlines Saturday program
Saturday’s featured event at Sunland Park is the 37th running of the $98,598 West Texas Maturity, a 400-yard dash for older Quarter Horses.
RC Corona King, a nine-time winner and one of the most prolific New Mexico-bred quarter horses in recent years, has been installed as the 3-to-1 morning line favorite for the race.
The 6-year-old son of Eye Am King won his trial heat for the West Texas Maturity here earlier this month and raced to the wire in 19.42 seconds, earning the role as fastest qualifier for the finals.
Owned by Jose Riojas and trained by Gerardo Quinonez, RC Corona King is a five-time stakes winner. He won the West Texas Maturity in 2024 before finishing fourth in the race last year. He has amassed earnings of more than $711,000 with a pair of stakes wins in 2025 including the Fall Championship Stakes (Gr. 1) at Albuquerque Downs and the Red or Green Stakes over this course.
RC Corona King will be ridden by Sergio Dominguez in the West Texas Maturity and will break from post nine in the 10-horse field.
Trainer Wes Giles will send another New Mexico-bred to the gate as the 7-to-2 second choice on the morning line. Bigg Picture finished a half-length behind RC Corona King in the same trial heat with Noe Garcia, Jr. in the irons.
The son of Big Daddy Cartel has six wins from 23 starts with more than $458,000 in career earnings. Bigg Picture capped off a strong campaign at Zia Park last fall with a pair of stakes wins, including the Zia Park Championship and the New Mexico Classic Championship.
The West Texas Maturity will be run as the ninth race on Saturday’s card, which has a first post time of 12:25 p.m.
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