“Twice The Appeal” Wins Sunland Derby

Nearly 20,000 people watched, cheered and placed their bets. In the end, it was a surprise win at Sunday’s big Sunland Derby. The horse named “Twice The Appeal” stole the show from the favorite, “Astrology” at the Sunland Park Racetrack and Casino.

“It’s a dream come true,” Rusty Brown, one of Twice The Appeal’s owners, said.

Brown said he has been in the racing game for the past 15 years, but never imagined his horse would take the others by storm and win first-place at the Sunland Derby.

“I didn’t expect this quite frankly, I mean, I’m overwhelmed right now,” Brown said. “Everybody who is in this game dreams of one thing – ‘Gee, you think I can go to the big dance just once in my lifetime and get that one special horse.'”

Another owner said he had no doubt Twice The Appeal could take the lead.

“We knew we had a good horse,” Victor Flores, another owner, said. “We wanted to see how good he was.”

Twice The Appeal was a 25-to-1 longshot. The southern California owners claimed a $480,000 first-place prize, but they said, no one would ever guess how much they bet on the soon-to-be Kentucky Derby racer.

“We didn’t… I said, with the purse how much can I bet…if he wins, we win $400,000, so I mean what am I going to bet,” Brown said.

But a family friend made the right call.

“I put the bet on the right horse and picked the winner,” Glenn Rivero said. “Nothing’s gonna beat that; these $25 bets are nothing compared to going to the Kentucky Derby.”

With less than 2 months to prepare, Twice The Appeal will be getting twice the treatment to make sure he is in tip-top shape.

“If he’s sound, I almost just want to tuck him in for the night and say, don’t race him, don’t train him, just let him go to the big dance the way he is right now,” Brown said.

And the way he is, could have Twice The Appeal racing right back into first place at the biggest race in May.