Page 53 - New Mexico Summer 2022

MEETING TIME
REPORT FROM MARCH 2022
NM RACING COMMISSION MEETING
The New Mexico Racing Commission held its monthly meeting on Thursday, March 24. New Mexico Horse Breeders’ Association
executive director Mary Barber gave the commission the NMHBA’s final race-a-day report for the first 40 days of the Sunland Park meet, which opened December 31, 2021. During this period, Sunland Park carded 172 New Mexico-bred races, 115 for Thoroughbreds and 57 for Quarter Horses. By comparison, 171 state-bred races were contested during the first 40 days of the track’s 2019-20 season. Of those 171 state- bred races, 127 were for Thoroughbreds and 44 were for Quarter Horses.
An average of 4.30 New Mexico-bred races per day were run during the first 40 days
of the 2021-22 Sunland Park meet, a slight increase over the 4.28 state-bred races per
day run during the first 40 days of the track’s 2019-20 season.
Also, during the first 28 days of the 2021- 22 Sunland Park meet, a total of 283 New Mexico-breds competed in open overnight races, of which 91 (28 Thoroughbreds and 63 Quarter Horses) finished first, second or third. Bonuses totaling $90,972.80 were paid to the owners of these horses.
Ms. Barber also reported that a total of 821 horses competed in 106 New Mexico-bred overnight Thoroughbred races, an average
of 7.75 horses per race. In addition, a total of 412 horses competed in 45 New Mexico-bred overnight Quarter Horse races, an average of 9.16 horses per race.
* * * * * * * ***
During his report to the commission, NMRC executive director Ismael “Izzy” Trejo commended NMRC chief financial officer Ambert Trujillo for a job well done on the commisssions audit report.
“She has gotten our financial department back in good shape,” he reported.
Mr. Trejo also attended the Thoroughbred digital tattoo training session for identifiers that was conducted by the Thoroughbred Racing Protective Bureau at Sunland Park, and he added that he and some commissioners would be attending a Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority session in Lexington, Kentucky, in mid-April.
“The testing portion (of HISA) might not be in place until maybe July of 2023,” Mr. Trejo said. “However, the safety part should be in place by July of this year. There will be a grace period for racetracks to get accredited.”
Mr. Trejo also said that, out of 89
out-of-competition tests recently conducted, there were 22 violations.
“There are some people who just don’t seem to get it and continue to get positives,” he added. “We are going to be getting tough on those people. We plan to do a lot of out-of- competition testing this year.”
Also at the meeting:
• Sunland Park director of racing operations Dustin Dix commended his race office staff for the job it’s done to get ready for the track’s upcoming Sunland Derby weekend. He added that both the $500,000 Sunland Derby (G3) for 3-year-olds and $300,000 Sunland Park Oaks for 3-year-old fillies will be run Lasix free. “We’re hoping to surpass $5 million in handle on Sunland Derby Day,” Mr. Dix said. “Our handle is up this meet even though we’ve run more Quarter Horse races.”
• SunRay Park director of racing Lonnie Barber asked the commission for and received approval to take $55,443.90 from the track’s gaming funds to offset the cost
of jockey and exercise rider insurance. He also asked for and received approval of racing officials for the track’s 18-day meet, which runs April 22-May 29.
• “We’re still looking for more people to work the meet,” Mr. Barber told the commission. “We’re hoping to find more assistant starters, as well as more mutuel tellers and people for other positions.”
• Commission chairman Sam Bregman
of Albuquerque asked SunRay Park representatives about whether or not the track would be able to export its simulcast signal to other locations. Track general manager Brad Boehm reported that the New Mexico Horsemen’s Association, representing the state’s owners and trainers, had not yet approved SunRay sending its export signal out.
• The NMHA had issues with SunRay Park’s condition book, purse structure, and purse distribution.
• “If they don’t sign off on the export signal, they will lose $100,000 in purse money,
and it’s getting later and later,” Mr. Boehm said. “We might not be able to export our signal to some racetracks because we will
be too late to get on their schedules. We are really behind.” Mr. Trejo said that if SunRay Park isn’t allowed to export its signal, “their handle will be so low that people in Santa Fe
will wonder why they are subsidizing horse
racing if there is no interest in it.
• “This hurts both the track and the
horsemen,” he added.
• Downs at Albuquerque president of racing
Don Cook received approval to amend their 2022 race dates. The track will race the same number of days -- 38 -- but the meet will start July 30 and run through October 1. This change will extend the Albuquerque meet by one week.
• “The reason we’re doing this is that we feel it will give the horses time to rest and we will get bigger fields,” Mr. Cook said. “Racing 12 days straight is hard on the horses, and there are fewer of them to run here.”
• *Rick Baugh of Ruidoso Downs asked for and received approval to amend the track’s racing official’s for its 47-day meet, which runs May 27-September 5. Barbara Rippy will serve as Ruidoso Downs’ clerk of the course, Autumn Barton will serve as its program director, and Jimmy Bankston will serve as outrider.
• Mr. Baugh also stated that, by switching companies to Chubb Insurance, Ruidoso Downs was able to get its premium for jockey and exercise rider insurance reduced from $239,839 to $133,817.
• “Also, we’ve been working on our stall applications, and we hope to have a full barn area,” he added. “We also hope to have a signed contract with the horsemen for our export signal. It would be an $800,000 loss in purse money for Ruidoso Downs and a loss of another $40,000 for the breeds. We hope to have the same agreement we had last year.”
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