Page 86 - New Mexico Winter 2021

RACING NEWS
by Michael Cusortelli
ALBUQUERQUE DOWNS MEET RECAP
lbuquerque Downs at Expo New Mexico Championships for the third consecutive year, with six wins from 21 starters, one more ended the main portion of its 26-day making it the first track in the 29 year history than runner-up Judge Lanier Racing LLC,
meet with a stakes-filled program on Sunday, September 19.
The Downs’ 11-race closing-day program, which drew an announced crowd of 8,825, featured seven stakes races -- six for Quarter Horses and one for Thoroughbreds. Purses totaling $1,756,149 were paid to horsemen on closing day.
Albuquerque Downs’ richest Quarter Horse race, the 400-yard, $395,708 New Mexico State Fair Quarter Horse Futurity (RG3) for state-bred 2 year olds on September 19, was won by Lucina Salas Lopez’s HS Golden Eagle. A sorrel daughter of Osbaldo, HS Golden Eagle was ridden by Jacob Enriquez for trainer Javier Duarte and earned the $197,854 winner’s share of the purse.
The Downs’ richest Thoroughbred race -- the 6-furlong, $235,079 New Mexico State Fair Thoroughbred Futurity (R) -- was won by Bella Dona. Jimmy Ray Coates
rode the homebred bay daughter of Attila’s Storm for owners Robert M. Driggers, Del Rae Driggers, and Ben Lee Ivey, and trainer Simon Buechler.
Also, on October 23 Albuquerque Downs hosted the American Quarter Horse Association’s Bank of America Challenge
of the program to do so. The track reported a crowd of 9,716 attended the all-stakes 10-race program. A total of $910,487 was wagered -- $133,689 on-track and $776,798 off-track.
Purses totaling $952,625 were paid to horsemen on Challenge Championships
night, and five graded stakes were contested. Danjer won the night’s richest race, the 440- yard, $266,250 Bank of America Challenge Championship (G1), for the second consecutive year. Last year’s AQHA Champion Aged Horse, Danjer races for Downtime Enterprises LLC, Billy G. Smith, and trainer Dean Frey.
Enrique Gomez was Albuquerque Downs’ leading Thoroughbred jockey with 12 wins from 69 mounts, one more than runner-up Luis Ramon Rodriguez, who rode the winners of 11 races from 41 mounts. Roimes Chirinos led all Albuquerque Downs’ Thoroughbred riders with mount earnings of $301,639.
The Downs’ leading Thoroughbred trainer, Nancy Summers, won 13 races from 44 starters, two more than runner-up Todd Fincher, who sent out the winners of 11 races from 47 starters. Fincher led all Thoroughbred trainers with starter earnings with $599,092.
Terry Motschanbacher led all Albuquerque Downs Thoroughbred owners
which won five races from 10 starters. B4 Farms led all Thoroughbred owners in purse earnings at $136,265.
Jacob Enriquez and Edgar S. Martinez topped all Albuquerque Downs’ Quarter Horse jockeys with 11 wins each; Enriquez reached 11 wins from 38 mounts, while Martinez accomplished the feat from 67 mounts. Enriquez also led all Downs’ Quarter Horse riders in mount earnings
at $450,424.
Omar Vargas led all Albuquerque Downs
Quarter Horse trainers with eight wins from 25 starters, two more than runners-up Javier Duarte, Wes Giles, and Jorge Morales-Flores. Duarte topped all Quarter Horse trainers in purse earnings at $351,526.
There was a three-way tie for Downs’ leading Quarter Horse owner honors, as Felipe Flores Sr., Vanessa Carmona, and the partnership of J & SM Inc., Don Reynolds, and M. Lane Reynolds won three races apiece. Lucina Salas Lopez topped all Quarter Horse owners in purse earnings at $206,974.
Albuquerque Downs is scheduled to start its 2022 Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse meet on July 29. The 38-day meet is scheduled to run through September 25.
84 New Mexico Horse Breeder