Muniz Memorial Handicap (Grade 2)- $300.000 Purse
FG- For Four Year Olds and Upward
One Mile and One Eighth on the Turf
March 21, 2026

Saturday is a big day at FG, as the schedule is highlighted by the Mike LaRosa LA Derby, but before we get there, we have the 21st running of the Muniz Memorial Handicap. This race has been a Grade 2 since its inception, and while the purse isn’t the $500.000 that it was 2005, it’s been constant at $300.000 since 2014. That year saw La Rosa Stables win with an appropriately named horse, March Madness. The 2025 race was won by Sly, who’s trained by Asgar. Unfortunately, the win looks like the last hurrah for the gelding, as he immediately struggled following the race and while he is still active, he has not run since September. We have six heading to the gate this year, though we initially began with seven. Weights carried will be either 117 or 118. Here’s a look at the field:

1- Rearranger (Our Athletes, ridden by A Fresu)- This gelding has made over $1,000.000 for his career, and can boast victories in the BEL and SAR Derby when he was a three-year-old. He’s older now, and would find himself in the auction last December, where Our Athletes picked him up for $51.110, hoping to get a little more out of him. He’s run twice since, both in overnights at SA, and won one of them while placing third in the other. Works are great, so he should be a strong contender.

2- Mask Of Agamemnon (Tockyocky, ridden by D Davis)- What catches your attention immediately about this horse is that 15-month layoff from September 2024 to January 2026 when he still was running well. He’s only run five times, winning three of them, including races on both ends of the fifteen-month time frame. Last month, he made his graded debut in the Grade 3 Mineshaft Stakes and was a respectable fourth (in a dead heat). There’s a lot of like about this one, but I can’t help but wonder what might have been if he didn’t completely sit out of his three-year-old season. This is also his turf debut and unfortunately there are no public turf works to look at.

3- All American (Mb Stables, ridden by L Dettori)- The trainer will be looking to pick up his third Muniz win in four years, and gives All American the assignment to try and accomplish this. It’s his stake debut, whenever you see something out of this barn making that debut, you have to wonder what his ceiling could become. All American has won his last two, most recently coming at GP last month in what was also first race on the grass. The works are fantastic, and he is a consistent runner even when he doesn’t win, so don’t be surprised to see Mb in the winner’s circle of the Muniz once again.

4- Great Vault- Scratched, he would have been a high weight of 122 pounds.

5- Jerk Pork (TwinTowersRacing, ridden by J R Velazquez)- Two starts ago, Jerk Pork snapped a lengthy winless streak by winning an N1X allowance at PRX. He had been entered into several stakes before that, including the likes of Grade 1 Makers Mark Mile almost a year ago. Prior stake efforts had not been the greatest, but that changed in late January with a second-place effort where he got his picture taken at the line with the winner in the Grade 3 TAM Stakes. The question now will be whether or not he is living up to the potential that the trainer has always felt that he had, and we will get a good answer on that here on Saturday.

6- Whoa Bo (Maxmillion Farm, ridden by S X Bridgmohan)- This seven-year-old gelding has had a fantastic career, with over $1,400.000 in career earnings and qualifying for the BC Turf Sprint on two occasions. Whoa Bo has regularly recorded triple digit SRF’s with consistent, in the money finishes while sprinting but last time out Maxmillion Farm had him do something for the first time: run long on the grass. It was also only the second time that he ran at least a mile for his career, and he showed that he was up to the task, running second right here in the Grade 3 FG Stakes. Look for him to follow that up successfully here.

7- Extreme Super Hero (Threshold, ridden by B Curtis)- Most of his career has been spent running for Mb Stables, and this includes a strong 2024 where he picked up his biggest wins, such as the Grade 2 DMR Derby. Last September, the Extremo gelding would make his way to Threshold for $52.000 in the auction, and he has since made two starts in his new barn. Threshold had high hopes for him to move to the main track, entering him in the Grade 1 Goodwood Stakes, but there’d be no superhuman effort. Two months ago, he ran against four other CA-Breds in the Unusual Heat Turf Classic but only beat one of them. With a little more rest, we’ll see if Extreme Super Hero can pull out another big one.

Prediction: 6-3-1-5

— NS

Categories: Grade II, STAKES ARTICLES