Page 111 - April2022

“We loved the thrill of it all, from the butterflies to the adrenaline rush to standing in the winner’s circles, and most of all spending time with the family during all this craziness.”
– Carlos Lujan
Photos Courtesy Carlos Lujan
When they married 21 years ago, asked if I remembered telling him that, and
Carlos Lujan and his wife Brenda
began attending horse races at Ruidoso for fun. It’s a tradition they kept up
throughout the years. “We loved the thrill of it all, from the butterflies to the adrenaline rush to standing in the winner’s circles, and most of all spending time with the family during all this craziness. All glory to God,” he says.
Although their horse experience consisted solely of attending the races, around 2017 they had a conversation with a gentleman seated near them, Abelardo Gallegos, of Chihuahua, Mexico. “I told him if he ever wanted to have a partner in the horse racing business to let me know,” Carlos says. “So, the following year, he
Carlos grew up in Andrews, Texas, about 55 miles northwest of Midland, one of three sons and two daughters of Baudelio and Flora Lujan. He studied criminal justice at a 2-year college, but before he finished, fatherhood sent him to the oilfields instead of the highway patrol career he had planned.
Two children (Carlos’ oldest child Karina works as a nurse in Austin, and his son Carlos is studying computer science at college in San Marcos, Texas) and 12 years after graduating from high school, Carlos reconnected with Brenda, whom he’d met at church and dated in his youth in Andrews. The couple soon married in Las Vegas.
I did. He asked me if I was still interested,
so around 2018 we ended up being partners. Other than being at the track, that’s the closest I’d ever been to horses.”
But his lack of experience didn’t
hinder his progress. He asked questions and listened to advice and has reaped the benefit of others’ experience. “Anything is possible in this life if you put your mind and your heart into it and believe in God and Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit,” he says. “We came from nothing and that means a lot to me. I wouldn’t say we came from rags to riches, but we came from rags to something!”
Carlos Lujan and his wife, Brenda.
© Courtesy Carlos Lujan
THE ROAD TO RACING
SPEEDHORSE April 2022 109