(April 24, 2008) - Saturday's 12th running of the $300,000 Grade 3 Texas Mile, for 3-year-olds and up, features California invader Monterey Jazz, trained by Craig Dollase, and the Steve Asmussen-trained Zanjero. With graded stakes victories over turf and synthetic surfaces, Monterey Jazz will be seeking his first graded stakes win over a natural dirt surface. Zanjero, who will be making his first start of 2008, will be looking for his third graded stakes win from his last four starts.

A winner in five of 12 career starts, the 6-5 morning line favorite Monterey Jazz has amassed $347,740 in earnings and his regular rider David Flores will ship in from California for the mount. The probable early leader in this race won consecutive graded stakes at Santa Anita in two of his last three races.

"He's been training awfully well lately and we like the timing of this race and the distance for him," said Dollase. "We're optimistic that he'll run a good race on Saturday."

Zanjero, the field's leading money earner with $1,174,276 in career earnings, was last seen winning the Grade 2 Indiana Derby at Hoosier Park in his final start as a 3-year-old. Shaun Bridgmohan, who rode this horse in last year's Kentucky Derby, has the mount. Lone Star Park's morning line oddsmaker Rick Lee rates Zanjero the second choice at 9-5.

"The pinnacle of his career to this point was when he won the West Virginia Derby last August, but his last race at Hoosier Park was also a very good race," said Asmussen on Thursday morning. "We wanted to get him back to the races sooner this year, but he had a slight setback. However, he's recovered nicely and he's been training well at Keeneland in preparation for Saturday."

The Donnie Von Hemel-trained Going Ballistic, winner of the Grade II Super Derby at Louisiana Downs in September and six of 21 lifetime starts for $911, 782, will look to play the role of spoiler.

The field from the rail out, with jockey and morning line odds listed in parenthesis, consists of: Scrappy Roo (Justin Shepherd, 10-1); Going Ballistic (Cliff Berry, 5-1); Gold Wonder (Eguard Tejera, 20-1); Beta Capo (Luis Quinonez, 8-1); Monterey Jazz (David Flores, 6-5); and Zanjero (Shaun Bridgmohan, 9-5).

Lone Star Park, located in Grand Prairie, Texas, will run its 65-day Spring Thoroughbred Season from April 10 through July 27, and a 31-day Quarter Horse Fall Meeting of Champions from September 26 to November 29 in 2008. Additional information on Lone Star Park can be found online at www.lonestarpark.com.