ZIA STAKES SHOULD ATTRACT TOP THOROUGHBREDS AND
QUARTER HORSES
HOBBS, New Mexico (May 9, 2008)
– A stakes schedule with an impressive amount of added money should attract the
best Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses to Zia park for the fourth season that
begins on September 13.
The 53-day season runs through December 9 on a Tuesday weekly schedule. There
will also be a special program on Friday, November 28, the day after
Thanksgiving.
The stakes schedule offers attractive purses for open horses as well as
lucrative purses for New Mexico breds.
The New Mexico Cup Day, the nation’s richest racing day for state-breds, will be
held on November 9 with an expected $2 million in purses for state-bred
Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses. It is possible that the undefeated filly
Pepper’s Pride, last year’s Thoroughbred horse of the meet, could be after her
record-setting 17th-straight win to start a career on New Mexico Cup Day.
The $60,000 Eddy County Stakes on December 7 is now a stakes for New Mexico-breds
and will be a major prep for the Red Hedeman Mile at Sunland Park. “This should
be a strong race. The change shows our support for New Mexico-bred racing and
how our stakes complement other stakes throughout New Mexico,” said Baugh.
The Thoroughbred stakes schedule gets off to its traditional fast start with the
region’s crack sprinters racing six furlongs in the $150,000-added Premiere
Breeder’s Cup on September 14. The purse includes $50,000 from the Breeder’s Cup
for Breeder’s Cup eligible horses.
The best stakes-class Thoroughbreds point to the $200,000 Zia Park Distance
Championship, also on December 7. The Zia Park Distance Championship attracts
horses from Kentucky to California to compete. Last year, Tap Dancing Mauk
shipped to Zia Park from Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky and scored his
second straight win in the stakes. He is expected to try for three consecutive
wins this year.
The Quarter Horse stakes schedule offers 12 graded stakes, featuring five Grade
1 stakes. The $305,000 Southwest Juvenile Championship became eligible for
grading this year and received a Grade 1 ranking, the highest grade, from the
American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) graded stakes committee and executive
committee.
The Southwest Juvenile Championship always attracts a very deep field of Grade 1
contestants. In the two runnings, 20 of the 21 runners have either won or placed
in a Grade 1 stakes before competing in the Southwest Juvenile Championship.
Older Quarter Horses point to the Grade 1, $175,000-added Zia Park Quarter Horse
Championship on December 7. Last year, Ketel Won secured his Quarter Horse of
the meet title with an impressive win in the Zia Park Quarter Horse
Championship. That 440-yard victory proved to be a very important win on his way
to being named 2007 champion aged horse and champion aged stallion by the AQHA.
He is back in training for his 2008 campaign and could defend his title in the
Zia Park Quarter Horse Championship.
New Mexico-bred Quarter Horse females have the opportunity to run at the
second-richest purse in the Quarter Horse racing exclusively for fillies and
mares. The New Mexico Fillies and Mares Championship on November 29 now offers a
$140,000-added purse, up from $95,000-added in 2007.