Page 115 - NMHBA_Winter2022

THE DOWNS AT ALBUQUERQUE
ALBUQUERQUE DOWNS MEET RECAP
Albuquerque Downs ended its 38-date Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse season on Saturday, October 1.
Alfredo Juarez Jr. was Albuquerque Downs’ leading Thoroughbred jockey with 27 wins from 124 mounts, nine more than runner-up Joree Scriver, who was riding at the track for the first time in her career and won 18 races from 134 mounts. Juarez ($709,795) and Scriver ($533,689) also finished one-two among jockeys in mount earnings.
Albuquerque’s leading Thoroughbred trainer, Dick Cappelucci, won 21 races from 100 starts, five more than runner-up Todd Fincher, who sent out the winners of 16 races from 64 starts. However, Fincher led all Thoroughbred trainers in starter earnings at $775,404.
Amanda Sweeten was Albuquerque Downs’ leading Thoroughbred owner with five wins from 15 starts, one more than runners-up Hever Yanez (four wins from 11 starts) and Max Franklin (four wins from 14 starts). The partnership of R. Lee Lewis and Brad E. King topped all Thoroughbred owners in purse earnings at $166,574 from just two starts.
On the Quarter Horse side, Alfredo Sigala topped all Albuquerque Downs jockeys with 20 wins from 102 mounts, seven more than runners-up Noe Garcia Jr. (13 wins from 31 mounts) and Hector Aldrete (13 wins from 97
mounts). Carlos Guillen Chacon was the meet’s leading rider in mount earnings at $595,424.
Alfredo Gomez was the meet’s leading Quarter Horse trainer with nine winners from 42 starts, one more than runners-up Marco Flores (eight wins from 31 starts) and Omar Vargas (eight wins from 32 starts). Juan Carlos Gonzalez topped all Quarter Horse trainers in starter earnings at $502,347.
Albuquerque Downs’ leading Quarter Horse owner, Javier M. Chavez, won four races from 23 starters, one more than runners-up Melvin Neugebauer and Susan Neugebauer, Cristian Alcala, Eliseo L. Montoya, Mario Dominguez, Jesus M. Soto and Tomas L. Avitia. Manuel Camacho topped all Quarter Horse owners in starter earnings at $317,755.
A total of $2,203,441 in purses were paid
to horsemen on Sunday, September 25, as the track presented a 10-race program that featured seven stakes, six for Quarter Horses and one for Thoroughbreds. The richest race in track history, the 400-yard, $625,689 New Mexico State Fair Quarter Horse Futurity (RG3),
was won by Manuel Camacho’s Talbott, a
gray son of Big Daddy Cartel purchased as a
yearling from breeder MJ Farms for $23,000 at last year’s New Mexico-Bred Sale at Ruidoso Downs. The gelding, who was trained by Juan Carlos Gonzalez and ridden by Carlos Guillen Chacon, banked the $312,845 winner’s share of the stakes-record purse.
The 2023 New Mexico State Fair Futurity is expected to offer a purse of $1 million. It would join the Louisiana QHBA Million Futurity (RG1), contested annually at Evangeline Downs, as Quarter Horse racing’s only state-bred futurities offering seven-figure purses.
The meet’s richest Thoroughbred race was run on September 25. Better Believe, a homebred daughter of Marking racing for R. Lee Lewis and Brad E. King, pocketed the $164,974 winner’s share of a stakes-record $323,348 purse. California-based jockey Drayden Van Dyke rode the bay filly for trainer Todd Fincher.
Live racing will return to Albuquerque Downs on September 1, 2023. The 36-date season, which will include a 17-day New Mexico State Fair meet, will run through October 29.
WINTER 2022 113