Page 14 - New Mexico Winter 2021

Earlier this year, New Mexico Horse
NMHBA Trustee Profile: Nancy Summers
by Michael Cusortelli
“I love my job, but I really don’t consider it a job. It’s a way of life.”
stakes winner Weappear. She was the leading How did you first get involved in the
Breeders’ Association members elected Nancy Summers of Albuquerque to serve a two-year term on the association’s board of trustees.
Nancy is serving her first-ever term on
the board, but her name is familiar in New Mexico racing circles. A retired jockey turned trainer, Nancy has been a well-known and accomplished figure at the state’s tracks
since she began her riding career in 1983. According to statistics provided by Equibase, she rode the winners of exactly 1,300 Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse races from 11,621 mounts, and her mounts amassed purse earnings of $9,118,834.
Nancy was the regular rider of 1993 AQHA Champion 2-Year-Old Gelding Treacherously, as she rode the son of Runaway Winner to victories in the Sun Country Futurity (G1) at Sunland Park, the first two Grade 1 legs of the Ruidoso Downs Triple Crown, and a third- place finish in the 1993 All American Futurity (G1), Quarter Horse racing’s richest and most prestigious race. She also rode multiple graded stakes winner Honor Ease to victory in the 1997 West Texas Sun Country Futurity (G1) and 1998 West Texas Derby (G3), both at Sunland Park.
Also in 1997, Nancy helped make history and national news when she was one of four female jockeys to ride in the All American Futurity; the others were Tanya Laib, Cammie Papineau, and Tami Purcell, who won the rich final with 4-time Champion Corona Cash.
Top Thoroughbreds ridden by Nancy included Tricky R., a multiple stakes winning daughter of Favorite Trick campaigned by her mother, Ruth Summers, and multiple stakes winners Piute and Bold Spirit.
Nancy rode her last winner in 2015, and then she moved seamlessly into her second career as a trainer. Since she began training five years ago, she has sent out the winners of 191 Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse races from 914 starters, and her starters have earned $3,502,334 and include multiple stakes winner Waltzing Attila and
Thoroughbred trainer during the 2020 Zia Park and 2021 Albuquerque Downs meets.
A New Mexico native and 1980 graduate of Santa Fe High School, Nancy currently owns three Thoroughbred mares, and she plans to add two Quarter Horse mares to her broodmare band.
“I love my job, but I really don’t consider it a job,” Nancy says. “It’s a way of life.”
Nancy lives with her life partner of 23 years, Tony Pickard. She recently visited with our magazine for an interview.
What were the primary motivating factors behind your decision to run for
a board position?
“I was born and raised in New Mexico. I love the racing here and wanted to give something back to the game.”
What do you think are the major issues regarding New Mexico racing that the board should be most concerned about this year? “I think we should work toward increasing our race days at our five tracks and increase the number of New Mexico-bred racehorses.”
Are you generally optimistic about the future of racing in New Mexico?
“Yes, I am optimistic. With all the money that is available to owners and breeders, we will be able to come together for the good of the industry.”
Though there hasn’t been much recent discussion on this issue, in years past there has been talk about the New Mexico Racing Commission approving a sixth racetrack for the state. Do you think a sixth racetrack would be beneficial or detrimental to our state’s racing industry?
“I don’t think we currently have the horse population to support a sixth track. Trainers are already moving their barns around the state like a fair circuit. In my opinion, more tracks with shorter meets are not what we need.”
racing industry?
“I grew up showing Quarter Horses, and then
I moved on to high school and college rodeo. I was going to Eastern New Mexico University in Portales, and in 1982 I landed a summer job at The Downs at Santa Fe working as a groom for Casey Darnell. That was my first time around
a racetrack, and I quickly decided I wanted to quit college and become a jockey.
I never left. I rode for 32 years consecutively. I had some bad spills, but other than a few concussions and a few cracks and bruises here and there, I never broke a bone. I quit riding in 2015 because of issues with vertigo that came on suddenly. That’s when I started training.”
What is it that you like most about the horse racing industry? What changes, if any, would you like to see made?
“Our industry employs a lot of people, and there is opportunity in it to be anything you want if you work hard and want it. I’m a good example of that. I’d never been to a horse race before I came to the track in 1982. I decided to be a jockey that summer after starting as a groom. It was a wonderful career, and I loved it. I now love being a trainer.
We need horsemen, management, and the racing commission to come together and be on the same page. We don’t all have to agree on everything, but if everyone would just give a little, we could get on the same page for the good of racing.”
What changes, if any, would you like to see made to the New Mexico breeding program? “We have a great program. We just need to work on attracting more owners and breeders.”
We race both Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds here in New Mexico. Do you prefer one breed over another, and if so, why? “I love both breeds. To me, a horse is a horse, and as long as they like to run, I don’t care what breed they are.”
12 New Mexico Horse Breeder