Page 73 - Winter 2020

“What’s happened in New Mexico has put a serious damper on the state’s racing program. I feel our most difficult year will be 2021. It’s going to be a slow recovery but we’ll get there.”
- Mac Murray
MAC AND JANIS-SPENCER MURRAY
Mac and Janis are the dynamic duo behind MJ Farms and MJ Farms is the fertile ground where they’ve planted some of the most successful equine family trees in racing. Their early trees, some of them planted while still living in Utah, have flourished with new branches, tucking new families into already-existing strains. Developing those lines that sustain their success and influence from state-to-state and from pedigree-to-pedigree is the highest mark of excellence.
“What’s happened in New Mexico has put a serious damper on the state’s racing pro- gram,” said Mac. “We need the money from the casinos but, right now, we don’t even know when, or if, they’ll reopen.”
“We were doing so well in New Mexico with our racing and breeding programs. This has been a tough pill to swallow. I feel our most dif- ficult year will be 2021. 2022 will be better and we should be close to normal in 2023. It’s going to be a slow recovery but we’ll get there.”
SO WHERE ARE WE?
The casinos are still closed and there are no fans in the grandstands. Do we know when those two negatives will switch to posi- tives? No, we do not.
Do we have accurate information regard- ing our money situation? No, we do not. We may have enough funding to get us through the remainder of 2020 but we may not. Ei- ther way, it looks as if we’ll be scraping the bottom of the barrel for 2021.
HERE’S WHAT WE DO KNOW.
We know the virtues of being a horseman include resiliency and determination.
We know how to bounce back. It’s simply a part of our nature that begins in our back- bones. We’re risk-takers. If we weren’t, we wouldn’t be horse folks in the first place. We know how to find a new path out of a strange box, and COVID-19 is about the strangest box we’ve ever experienced. We don’t look at our “job” like other people, because what we do comes from deep-seated love and dedica- tion. Some say it’s an addiction and they may be correct.
Tom Goncharoff, president of the NMHBA, recognizes the pinch but focuses on the heart of the horsemen. “I don’t mean to sound like a Pollyanna,” he said, “but I have no doubt we’ll find our way through this. It may not be easy but we’ll do it and probably be better for it.
“Horsemen are tough. They have no choice because this is a tough business, even at its best.”
Izzy Trejo of the NMRC says, “It’s tough but we’re going to survive. We may look a little different when it all shakes out but it’ll still be us.”
Maybe we should look a little differ- ent. We’ve needed some restructuring for
a long time. Maybe this will be our chance to do it. Who knows? Maybe we’ll even see New Mexico acknowledge its’ most readily available, most plentiful equine resource which is the Quarter Horse. And maybe that recognition will result in a significant increase in QH races which, in turn, will eliminate all those pesky short Thorough- bred fields.
The highly regarded Jerry Allred once said the reason horsemen live so long is because they have to stick around for the next foal crop. That sounds like the nature of a horseman. The vast majority of us will walk from this pandemic, up the stairs to the Turf Club, and holler and clap louder than ever. We may not be sure of exactly when that will happen but we know it will because our nature says it will.
We know how to find a new path out of a strange box, and COVID-19
is about the strangest box we’ve ever experienced. We don’t look at our “job” like other people, because what we do comes from deep- seated love and dedication. Some say it’s an addiction and they may be correct.
WINTER 2020 71