Ridden for the first time in a race by Justin Shepherd, Chuchuluco scored a one-length victory in the $120,000 Johnnie L. Jamison Handicap (R) for New Mexico-breds at Sunland Park on Sunday.

Chuchuluco covered 6 ½ furlongs in 1:15.56 while earning his fifth win in nine starts and second career stakes victory. Todd Fincher saddled Chuchuluco for West Texas Racing Partners, which acquired the 3-year-old Devon Lane gelding for $58,000 at the 2008 New Mexico-Bred Yearling Sale at Ruidoso Downs.

Chuchuluco was bred by Johnny and Mary Paiz, and the gelding is one of 11 stakes winners from 239 starters sired by Devon Lane, a winning son of Storm Cat whose 10 crops have earned more than $7.5 million and include his top earner, River’s Prayer, the winner of the 2007 Princess Rooney Handicap (G1) at Calder Racecourse in Florida. A half brother to Grade 1 winners Stellar Jayne and Starrer, Devon Lane stands for a $2,500 fee at Terry and Nan Lane’s TNL Farm at Bosque, New Mexico.

Chuchuluco is also one of three winners from four starters produced by Lady In Danger, an unraced daughter of the Siberian Express stallion In Excess (IRE). The 12-year-old mare’s starters include Dangerous Devon, a full brother to Chuchuluco who ran second in four stakes at Sunland Park and Zia Park from 2005-07.

Chuchuluco’s second dam, the winning Lord Gaylord mare Lady Danger, ran second in the ’87 USF&G Maryland Lassie Stakes (R) at Pimlico Racecourse in Baltimore. A 1985 foal who died in 2007, Lady Danger produced seven winners from nine starters, including Dangerous Prospect, a gelding by Allen’s Prospect who ran third in the 1996 Central Washington Handicap at Yakima Meadows.

Chuchuluco traces back to his third dam, Danger Bearing. A 1975 Maryland-bred foal by the Rambunctious stallion Rollicking, Danger Bearing won two stakes in Maryland from 1977-78, and she produced three stakes-placed runners. Danger Bearing’s full sister, Laughing Gull, won three stakes in New Jersey and Maryland in 1981. Another full sister, Queen’s Reckoning, won the $52,350 Miss Woodford Breeders’ Cup Handicap at Monmouth Park in ’89.

Campaigned exclusively in New Mexico, Chuchuluco has earned $302,484. The gelding’s stakes resume includes a 2 ¼-length victory in the January 23, $125,000 Pepsi Cola Stakes (R) at Sunland, and a 1 ¼-length win in the 2008 New Mexico Cup Juvenile Colts & Geldings Stakes (R) at Zia Park.

Smash Dancer, the 2-1 favorite, ran second and was followed by Romeos Wilson, Huntin The Trash, Lefty Who, Brax, Train Rider Blues, Our Choice, Double Smart, Blushing Fina, Some Ghost, and Runnin Red.

Smash Dancer is a homebred 3-year-old gelding by the late Robyn Dancer racing for Barbara M. Coleman of Farmington, New Mexico. Smash Dancer has earned $224,700 from 13 outs, and his five wins include the 6-furlong, $182,690 New Mexico Cup Sprint Championship Stakes (R) at Zia Park.

A 12-year-old Jack Wilson owned by Rita J. Danley of Anthony, New Mexico, Romeos Wilson banked $12,000 to push his earnings to $851,221. Romeos Wilson has won 19 of 97 races, including the 5 ½-furlong Casey Darnell Pony Express Stakes (R) at The Downs at Albuquerque on August 22. The gelding won the Johnnie L. Jamison Handicap in 2006 and ’07.