Forest Mouse seeks three-peat

The 10-year-old Forest Mouse will attempt to win the Winsham Lad Handicap at Sunland Park for the third consecutive year Sunday, and if he is successful, he will go over $1 million in career earnings.

The Winsham Lad, a one-mile race for 4-year-olds and up, is a stepping-stone to the Sunland Park Handicap. A field of nine is set to start, including Pain and Misery and Cowboy Cool – both stakes winners – and Five Palms, an allowance winner at the Winsham Lad distance last out at Sunland.

Forest Mouse has won 26 races from 63 starts for earnings of $984,007. He’s registered 13 of those wins in stakes, among them three runnings of the Winsham Lad. His first score in the race came at age 5, and his current streak in the race started at 8 and continued last year with a 3 1/4-length victory.

WINSHAM LAD (RACE 9) KEY CONTENDERS

Forest Mouse, by Teton Forest Last 3 Beyers: 85-65-84

◗ Forest Mouse has been a staple in the New Mexico handicap ranks for years for trainer Henry Dominguez, and Sunday’s first-place check of $39,000 would push him beyond $1 million in earnings.

◗ He is the 123-pound highweight for this race. Forest Mouse enters off a dead-heat allowance win Dec. 24 at Sunland. He stalked the pace in the one-mile race and went on to a 4 1/4-length victory alongside Five Palms, covering the distance in a sharp 1:35.46. The winners each earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 85, tying for the highest lastrace number in the Winsham Lad field.

◗ Forest Mouse is coming off an outstanding 9-year-old season, with three of his four wins in 2017 coming in stakes races in New Mexico. In addition to the Winsham Lad, he won the Curribot at Sunland and the SunRay Park and Casino Handicap in Farmington. Forest Mouse also was third in last year’s $150,000 Sunland Park Handicap.

◗ Ry Eikleberry has the mount from post 3. The horse races for Corey Johnson.

Five Palms, by Unbridled’s Song Last 3 Beyers: 85-82-80

◗ He is a stakes-placed runner looking for his first stakes victory. He was third to Forest Mouse in the 2016 Premier Cup Handicap at Zia Park.

◗ Five Palms is from the mare Ema Bovary, a Grade 2 winner who earned $721,642.

◗ Enrique Gomez has the mount from post 2 for Dominguez. The horse races for Alfred Alvarado.