Page 31 - New Mexico Horse Breeders 2019 Stallion Register

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Senorita Futurity (R) for 2-year-old fillies (won by J. Kirk and Judy Robison’s African Heat), and the Sept. 3, $110,094 Rio Grande Senor Futurity (R) for 2-year-old colts and geldings (won by R.D. Hubbard’s and Shaun Hubbard’s Sunscreen).
Two sales were held at the Ruidoso Horse Sales Pavilion during the summer, the Aug. 17-18 New Mexico-Bred Sale and the Aug. 31-Sept. 2 Ruidoso Select Quarter Horse Yearling Sale. During the New Mexico-Bred Sale, which also featured a Select Quarter Horse Foals in Utero Sale, a total of 212 Quarter Horse and Thoroughbred yearlings sold for
an aggregate sum of $3,236,400, an increase of 42 percent over the 2017 sale, when 223 state-bred yearlings sold for an aggregate sum of $2,277,100. First Requirement, a Quarter Horse daughter of champion First Moonflash and the stakes-winning Walk Thru Fire mare Required Fire, was the sale topper at $84,000.
Business was also up at the Ruidoso Select Yearling Sale, as 323 of the 386 Quarter Horse yearlings cataloged sold for an average of $46,539, up 8 percent over the 2017 average of $42,756. Good Candy P, a son of Good Reason SA and sibling to three stakes winners, including champion Jess Good Candy, topped the Select Sale at $340,000.
Ruidoso Downs Racetrack also made several infrastructure improvements in 2018. A new 8,640 square-foot chapel opened for services
on July 29. In addition, a new receiving barn, located on the barn-area side of the tunnel that leads from the stable area to the infield and saddling paddock, opened earlier in the year.
Albuquerque Downs conducted a 54-day season from June 29-Sept. 23. Once again, business was brisk at The Downs, as wagering handle on the track’s 515 live races totaled $13,744,369, an increase of 5 percent over the $13,078,837 wagered on the track’s 543 live races during its 57-day season in 2017. The Downs’ average-per-race handle increased 11 percent from $24,086 (in 2017) to $26,688.
Once again, Albuquerque Downs’ all- Thoroughbred cards on Wednesdays were featured on TVG, one of North America’s largest advance deposit wagering platforms. The track also aggressively marketed its Friday and Saturday night Quarter Horse races to off- track sites in California, including Los Alamitos Racecourse near Los Angeles.
The Downs paid a track-record $1.6 million in purses during closing weekend, Sept. 22-23. The track’s closing-weekend program featured six stakes, topped by the 440-yard, $300,000 Albuquerque Fall Quarter Horse Championship (G1), which for the third time in four years was won by the reigning AQHA world champion. Jessies First Down, a homebred 7-year-old gelding owned by Ted G. Abrams of Houston, earned the $181,800 winner’s share of the
purse and a berth in the Dec. 30, $350,000 Championship at Sunland Park (G1).
New Mexico-breds also shined on closing weekend at The Downs. Legend Of The Vine, a gray daughter of Big Daddy Cartel campaigned by J & SM Inc. of Fort Stockton, Texas, won the Sept. 22, 400-yard New Mexico State Fair Futurity (R) and banked the winner’s share of
a stakes-record $325,483 purse. Clara Moore Thomas’ Roll On Diabolical, a chestnut colt
by Diabolical, won the 6-furlong, $177,659 New Mexico State Fair Thoroughbred Futurity (R) on Sept. 23, and Mason A. King’s Regard The Rose, a daughter of Chicks Regard, won the 400-yard, $134,387 New Mexico State Fair Breeders’ Derby (R) on closing day.
Albuquerque Downs’ richest and most prestigious race for Thoroughbreds, the 1 1/8-mile, $200,000 Downs at Albuquerque Handicap on Aug. 4, was won by Calumet Farm’s Hence, a 4-year-old homebred colt who won last year’s Sunland Derby (G3).
Also, the American Quarter Horse Association announced that its 2019 Bank of America Challenge Championships would be held at The Downs. The tentative date is set for Saturday, October 26, 2019.
Zia Park in Hobbs opened its annual 56-day fall season, its second under director of racing and racing secretary Matt Crawford, on Sept. 22, and once again the track presented a lucrative stakes schedule for both New Mexico-bred and open Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses.
On November 4, Zia Park hosted the New Mexico Cup, North America’s richest state- or province-day of racing. A dozen state-bred stakes, eight for Thoroughbreds and four for Quarter Horses, were contested, and $2,047,997 in purses were paid to horsemen.
Trainers Henry Dominguez and Todd Fincher each won two New Mexico Cup Thoroughbred races. Roimes Chirinos and Alfredo Juarez Jr. each rode the winners of two Thoroughbred races. On the Quarter Horse side, Enrique Barrera’s Woodys Copy Cat won the day’s richest race, the 400-yard, $315,450 New Mexico Cup Futurity (RG2).
Zia Park’s annual Land of Enchantment Day took place on Wednesday, November 21. Land of Enchantment Day featured seven Thoroughbred stakes, topped by the 1 1/16- mile, $250,000 Zia Park Oaks for 3-year-old fillies, and the 1 1/16-mile, $250,000 Zia Park Derby for 3-year-olds.
Quarter Horses were featured on Zia Park’s Dec. 2 program, as the track presented five stakes, topped by the 440-yard, $150,000 Zia Park Championship (G1) for 3-year-olds and older, and the 440-yard, $150,000 Southwest Juvenile Championship (G1) for 2-year-olds.
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The New Mexico Racing Commission
began accepting applications for a sixth racino license. Applications were received from groups proposing to build racinos in Clovis, Tucumcari and Lordsburg. Public hearings and site
visits were held in Lordsburg (Sept. 28), Tucumcari (Oct. 4), and Clovis (Oct. 5). The commission was expected to vote
on a site for the sixth racino at a special meeting on Dec. 6.
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