The season’s biggest card at Sunland Park takes place Sunday and puts New Mexico racing squarely on the Triple Crown trail. The $500,000 Sunland Derby goes as Race 9 on a 6-stakes marquee, and the 1-1/16 miles test offers 20 Kentucky Derby qualifying points to its winner. Top trainers and jockeys from around the country are in town for the stakes races.

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Let’s meet the contenders for the Sunland Derby (Race 9):

#1-EXPRESS KID (pictured): Remington Park’s Springboard Mile winner was sold in January’s Fasig-Tipton one-horse digital flash sale for $800,000 and makes his first appearance for the new connections. Sunland-based trainer Justin Evans takes over for Wade Rarick and looks to keep the magic going with this 34-1 upsetter in Oklahoma City. Bodexpress colt overcame the 11-hole last out and draws the rail while getting Santa Anita-based Juan Hernandez – in town to ride for Bob Baffert in the Sunland Oaks – to pilot. Hernandez guided Getaway Car to victory in this race a year ago.

#2-SHARONS BEACH: Santa Anita-based maiden has yet to score in 3 tries, including a pair of Colonial Downs efforts last summer. High-percentage trainer Jonathan Thomas takes a big swing with this Omaha Beach gelding, but lands Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez. Stretches out beyond a mile for the first time and makes his first dirt route bid.

#3-PAVLOVIAN: California-bred ventures back into open company, a place where he finished second in the Grade 3 Best Pal last summer at Del Mar. Blinkers go back on the recent Cal Cup Derby third-place finisher. Trainer Doug O’Neill takes the Reddam Racing home-bred on the road for the first time. The barn has had Sunland Derby success before, winning with Slow Down Andy (2022), Thor’s Echo (2005) and Excessivepleasure (2003 inaugural). A fourth O’Neill victory would tie Bob Baffert’s Sunland Derby training record for wins.

#4-FORTY TWENTY: The most lightly raced member of the lineup makes just his third lifetime start. Candy Ride colt blew away Turf Paradise maiden sprinters by 12 lengths last time at 1-9 odds and will be tested for distance and class in his first foray at Sunland. Robertino Diodoro trains and regular rider Orlando Mojica returns to the saddle. This one is half-brother to Take Charge Tom, who last year won the local Riley Allison Derby and Mine That Bird Derby while finishing fourth in this race.

#5-WAY BEYOND: Nose runner-up in the local prep, the Riley Allison Derby, for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen – who won this race in 2012 with Daddy Nose Best and 2017 with Hence. Way Beyond gets a rematch with that race’s winner Daneyko as well as Express Kid from his fifth-place matchup in the Springboard Mile at Remington Park. Twirling Candy colt is 1-for-7 with a maiden score at Churchill Downs in September.

#6-BRICKLIN: Oaklawn allowance winner scratched from last week’s Southwest Stakes in Hot Springs to make the Sunland Derby road trip. Nyquist colt has won 2 of his last 3 for trainer Rodolphe Brisset, but was a distant sixth in his only stakes try, October’s Grade 3 Street Sense at Churchill. Jockey Cristian Torres steered Silent Tactic to victory in the aforementioned $1 million Southwest and looks for a second Derby trail prep win in as many weeks.

#7-DANEYKO: Deep closer rallied for a nose victory in the Riley Allison Derby over Way Beyond in his Sunland debut. Turf Paradise turf maiden winner also added a second-place Lost In The Fog Juvenile stakes finish on dirt. Arizona-based trainer Ed Kereluk once again tabs local ace pilot Alfredo Juarez (won 2017 Sunland Derby aboard Hence). Danekyo hopes to join Nyquist as Kentucky Derby winners named for National Hockey League stars. Namesake Ken Daneyko was a 3-time Stanley Cup winner with the New Jersey Devils.

#8-BUNTUS FOCLORA: Five-race maiden from New York makes a curious appearance far from home while tackling stakes company for the first time. His best effort was runner-up at Aqueduct in December to Schoolyardsuperman, who disappointed last week in the listed Withers Stakes when finishing fourth as the 3-2 favorite. Former Todd Pletcher assistant Amelia Green seeks her first Derby trail success. By Thousand Words, the shrewdly monikered colt is named for the Irish book designed to teach children their first 1,000 words.