Page 16 - New Mexico Horse Breeders 2019 Stallion Register

THE NEWS
Sunland Park Releases $5.6 Million Stakes Schedule
Sunland Park Racetrack has released its $5.6-million stakes schedule for its 60th anniversary season, which opens Dec. 28.
Once again, Sunland Park’s $3,420,000 Thoroughbred stakes schedule will be topped
by the 1 1/8-mile, $800,000-guaranteed Sunland Derby-G3 for 3 year olds -- a Triple Crown prep and New Mexico’s only graded Thoroughbred stakes -- on Sunday, March
24. Seven Thoroughbred stakes worth a total
of $1.5 million will be contested that day, including the 1 1/16-mile, $200,000-guaranteed Sunland Park Oaks for 3-year-old fillies, and three $100,000-guaranteed stakes restricted to New Mexico-breds: the 1-mile & 70-yard New Mexico State University Stakes-R for 4 year
olds and older, the 1 1/16-mile New Mexico Breeders’ Derby-R for 3 year olds, and the 1 1/16-mile New Mexico Breeders’ Oaks-R for 3-year-old fillies.
Other prominent Thoroughbred stakes at Sunland include the 1-mile, $100,000-added
Riley Allison Derby for 3-year-olds on Jan. 27; the 1 1/16-mile, $100,000-guaranteed Mine That Bird Derby for 3 year olds on Feb. 24; and the 1 1/8-mile, $150,000-guaranteed Sunland Park Handicap for 3-year-olds and older on April 28.
Sunland Park’s richest New Mexico-bred Thoroughbred stakes, the 4 1/2-furlong, $160,000 est. Copper Top Futurity-R for 2 year olds, will be contested on May 4.
Sunland Park’s Quarter Horse stakes schedule will be worth approximately $2,185,000 and be topped by the 440-yard, $350,000-guaranteed Championship at Sunland Park-G1 for 3 year olds and older on Dec. 30. Several other open graded Quarter Horse stakes will be offered, including the 400-yard, $100,000-est. West Texas Maturity-G3 for 3 year olds and older
on March 9; the 400-yard, $200,000-est. West Texas Derby-G3 for 3 year olds on April 20;
and the 300-yard, $275,000-est. West Texas Futurity-G2 for 2-year-olds on May 5.
Sunland Park’s richest Quarter Horse race, the 300-yard, $400,000-est. New Mexican Spring Futurity-RG2 for state-bred 2 year olds, will be run on May 5. Last year’s New Mexican Spring Futurity offered a stakes-record $396,412 purse and was won by Zee James, a homebred daughter of Jesse James Jr owned by Robert M. Driggers and Ben Lee Ivey.
Other prominent New Mexico-bred Quarter Horse stakes include the 400-yard, $200,000-est. Shue Fly Stakes-RG3 for 3 year olds on Jan. 26.
Thoroughout its 75-day season, Sunland Park will offer live racing on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Tuesday schedule. The barn area will open on Wednesday, Dec. 12, while the racetrack will open for gallops and workouts on Monday, Dec. 17.
Sunland Park’s 2018-19 season will run through May 5, 2019. For more information, including a complete stakes schedule, visit the track’s website at www.sunland-park.com, or call the track at (575) 874-5200.
Santa Ana Star Casino Opens Sports Book
Legal sports wagering has come to New Mexico, as the Santa Ana Star Casino near Rio Rancho opened a sports book on Oct. 9.
The move comes on the heels of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in May, which by a 6-3 decision essentially overturned the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act. Instituted in 1992, the act prevented every state but Nevada and three other states from allowing sports betting.
On Oct. 9, the Albuquerque Journal reported that the Santa Ana Star’s sports book will offer “full sports betting accessibility, and there doesn’t appear to be any regulatory agency trying to block it.”
“Sports betting at the Santa Ana Star Casino
is governed by the Pueblo of Santa Ana Gaming Regulatory Commission,” said David Carl, press secretary for the Office of the New Mexico Attorney General. “As such, we will closely monitor New Mexico’s tribal gaming compacts and work with the legislature for proper statutory and regulatory over- sight to require responsible gaming and enhanced integrity to create an even playing field for all.”
The Journal reported that Las Vegas-based USBookmaking is the company that will “pro- vide sports betting risk services” at Santa Ana. The state of New Mexico will not get any rev- enue from the venture under existing gaming
compacts. The state receives a percentage from slot machine receipts but not from most other gambling in the casinos.
The sports gaming website SportsHandle.com cited an unnamed USBookmaking spokesman who says that the company has “thoroughly researched” the legality of sports betting under the compact, and that Santa Ana “and all involved feel confident in moving forward” with offering sports betting because it falls under what is classified as allowable Class III gaming.
In New Mexico, the State Tribal Gaming Compact of 2015 between the state and at least 17 tribes (Santa Ana signed its agreement on Dec. 30, 2016), allows for the tribal casinos to have Class III gaming “on Indian Lands” and the casinos keep all the profit from betting that requires a person — table games or, now it is presumed, sports betting. The casinos share a part of all profits with the state for machine- based games: slot machines or video poker.
Specifically, the act says, “Generally, games that are predominantly mechanical, electrome- chanical or electronic are subject to revenue sharing and games that rely significantly on
a casino attendant (a live person) to play the game are not subject to that obligation.”
At least one lawmaker hopes that could change, and that gaming compacts might be rene- gotiated with a new governor taking office in Jan.
“My hope is the tribal communities find it in their interest to renegotiate the compacts to allow the entire state to benefit from the sports betting industry,” Rep. Antonio “Moe” Maestas (D-Albuquerque), told the Journal.
Maestas and others note that a large number of people already find ways to gamble on sports — through the internet or in fantasy sports pools — just not at local brick and mortar locations. The American Gaming Association estimates more than $150 billion per year is wagered on sports annually in the United States with as much as 97% of that being done so illegally.
Along those lines, Maestas is happy with the move by Santa Ana.
“I would rather New Mexicans bet with local tribes than internet sites in the Bahamas,” Maestas said. “I’m glad this is happening.”
It is unclear how many other casinos around New Mexico might pursue sports betting, though published reports indicate that the Inn of the Mountain Gods near Ruidoso will do so and others in the Albuquerque area are expected to follow suit.
“I would rather New Mexicans bet with local tribes than internet sites in the Bahamas,” Maestas said. “I’m glad this is happening.”
14 New Mexico Horse Breeder