1 1/8-Mile Stakes One of Two Scheduled for Laurel Turf

BALTIMORE – At one point or another this spring, Average Joe Racing Stables, Ltd. and Dan Wells’ Mugatu faced all three Triple Crown race winners, two of them coming in his last trip to Maryland for the May 18 Preakness Stakes (G1).

Eighth in the Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown, Mugatu will be up against a different class of horses on a surface he hasn’t tried in more than seven months in Sunday’s $100,000 Bald Eagle Derby for 3-year-olds at Laurel Park.

The 1 1/8-mile Bald Eagle Derby, named for the two-time Washington D.C. International winner and the nation’s champion handicap horse of 1960, anchors three $100,000 stakes on a nine-race program and is one of two scheduled for the grass along with the 1 1/16-mile Searching for 3-year-old fillies.

Fillies and mares 3 and up will contest the 1 1/16-mile Caesar’s Wish on the main track. First race post time is 12:25 p.m.

Mugatu, based at Ohio’s Belterra Park with trainer Jeff Engler, has raced four times previously on grass with one second and one third in Ellis Park maiden special weights last summer. His most recent turf try came when sixth in a 1 1/16-mile optional claiming allowance Dec. 23 at Tampa Bay Downs.

“We’re just trying to get him in some of these races and a lot of them aren’t going. We didn’t want to go in the Jim Dandy or anything like that,” Engler said. “He’s proved himself on the Tapeta at Turfway with some numbers and he ran some good numbers at Ellis Park. I don’t see him being any worse on the turf, so it seems like a good spot for him. We’ll see what happens.”

Mugatu graduated in a one-mile, 70-yard maiden special weight last November on the Tapeta course at Gulfstream Park, and has two thirds in four subsequent tries over the surface while also beaten only 2 ½ lengths by multiple graded-stakes winner Trikari when eighth in the March 23 Rushaway.

Following that race, Mugatu ran fifth to subsequent Kentucky Derby (G1) and Jim Dandy (G2) runner-up Sierra Leone in the April 6 Blue Grass (G1) at Keeneland, just a length behind Dornoch, who went on to win the Belmont (G1) and Haskell (G1). More than three lengths back of Mugatu in the Blue Grass was Seize the Grey, the front-running Preakness winner over Derby hero Mystik Dan.

“He’s run against some big horses. Dornoch beat us a length at Keeneland in the Grade 1. Sierra Leone beat us like four or five lengths in the same race. He’s seen some nice horses. We beat Seize the Grey, so he’s run against some of the best 3-year-olds in the country,” Engler said. “I think it’s a good spot for him. I don’t see that level of horse in this race, but that’s not to say that they can’t beat him. I think it’s a good spot for him.”

Mugatu has raced once since the Preakness, finishing fifth in the Iowa Derby July 6 at Prairie Meadows. He’s had two half-mile breezes at Belterra, most recently going in 48 seconds July 29.

“He’s actually the type of horse that likes to run every 14 to 21 days. Now we’re at like 30 to 35 days before we can get him in a good spot, and he prefers to race. He just likes to race,” Engler said. “It’s been pretty frustrating but I thought this was a good place for him even though it’s on the turf. He’s about the same horse on the turf. He might be a tick better on the dirt, but we’ll see.”

Jockey Sheldon Russell has the call on Mugatu from outermost Post 7.

“Knock on wood, I’ve told several people this and I’ve actually had state vets tell me this, as well, he’s the soundest horse I’ve ever seen,” Engler said. “It’s good for us because a lot of these 3-year-olds are starting to kind of fall off the radar halfway through the year and he’s still going strong.”

Among the competition for Mugatu are stakes winners Trevesso and Desvio. Runnymoore Racing homebred Trevesso was fifth, beaten 2 ½ lengths, when making his turf debut in the one-mile Jersey Derby June 1 at Monmouth Park. The Kitten’s Joy colt exits a 1 ½-length triumph in the 1 1/16-mile Crowd Pleaser against fellow Pennsylvania-breds June 24 at Parx.

Stonelea Stable and Bonnie Rye Stable’s Desvio takes a two-race win streak into the Bald Eagle Derby. A gelded son of Yoshida, he beat older horses by a length in a one-mile allowance over soft ground on the Preakness undercard at Pimlico, then came back with a three-quarter-length victory in the 1 3/8-mile Kent July 8 at Delaware Park. Jockey Ben Curtis replaced injured Yomar Ortiz in that race, won in 2:16.39 despite the firm going.

“That was super exciting. We had him a little more forwardly placed. I felt like that day you kind of needed to be up there with the speed, if you can call it that,” trainer Madison Meyers said. “Yomar got hurt between the win on Preakness day and the Kent so we had Ben Curtis up, who is a top-class rider and I thought would really suit the horse with his riding style. That was really thrilling for all of us.”

Curtis has the return call on Desvio from Post 5.

“We’re happy to have Ben back aboard,” Meyers said. “I was surprised it was such a short field but there’s still some really tough horses in there. We’ll kind of see how it plays out.”

Cinder Block, exiting a front-running 5 ¾-length maiden special weight victory June 29 going 1 1/16 miles on the Laurel turf; Wine Collector, third in the one-mile Boston on soft ground July 13 at Colonial Downs, his first start in six months; Elevated Game, gelded out of a gate-to-wire two-turn turf allowance score July 8 at Parx for Laurel summer meet-leading trainer Jamie Ness; and Trevesso’s stablemate Give It a Whirl are also entered.