Zia Park

The 19th season of horse racing at Zia Park was a record setting one on several fronts with new standards set for average daily handle, purses and safety during the 30-day mixed Quarter Horse/Thoroughbred meet, the PENN Entertainment-owned track said in a release Thursday afternoon. An average daily handle of $830,371 was up 72% from the 48-date meet in 2022 to set a new track record and was the highest daily handle recorded by a racetrack in the state of New Mexico since 2010. Live handle was up an equally...

Purses for the upcoming race meet at Zia Park will be the richest in the track's 24 years, with overnight purses expected to average $360,000 per day for the 30-day mixed Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse meet. "With the realignment of the 2023 New Mexico racing calendar, this is a tremendous opportunity to showcase New Mexico horse racing," said Christopher McErlean, Vice President of Racing for PENN Entertainment, parent company of Zia Park.  "There will be racing opportunities for all categories--New Mexico-breds and open horses, wide ranges of allowance classes and...

Veteran racing official Mike Acton has been hired as Sam Houston Race Park's track's Racing Secretary. He assumed the role on Feb. 3 and will serve in the same capacity at Retama Park and Zia Park during their respective meets this year. "Mike is an experienced racing professional who has deep connections in our region that will serve the industry well," Sam Houston Vice President and General Manager Dwight Berube said. Acton most recently served as the Racing Secretary at both Remington Park and Lone Star Park. "I am going...

Ryan Noffsinger has been named track superintendent at Prairie Meadows. A third-generation horseman, Noffsinger has worked at tracks from California, Arizona, New Mexico and, most recently, in Florida. "In my 18 years working in various roles with track maintenance, I've been able to gain valuable knowledge at tracks like Del Mar, Turf Paradise, Zia Park, Sunland Park, Gulfstream Park West and Palm Meadows which will serve me well as Track Superintendent for Prairie Meadows," Noffsinger said. Prairie Meadows Vice President for Racing Derron Heldt added, "Ryan brings so much to...

With the Medina Spirit (Protonico) positive, the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf debacle, the on-going saga of Jorge Navarro, Jason Servis and the rest and the closing of Arlington Park, it's been another tough year for horse racing. This game sure can get you down at times. But we will always have the horse. These beautiful, athletic, noble, graceful animals, they always find a way to make you feel good about the sport. Which is why so many people were smiling and cheering Saturday at Woodbine as Pink Lloyd (Old...

4th-ZIA, Zia Park Juvenile S., $50K, 2yo, 6f, post time: 3:21 ET After New Mexico trainer Todd Fincher signed the winning ticket at $870,000 on a colt by Quality Road at last year's Keeneland September Sale, Bob Baffert was overheard saying to Fincher and his owner Lori Owens, "You bought my horse." The gray, now named BYE BYE BOBBY gets going in Tuesday's Zia Park Juvenile S., the first of seven stakes on the Zia Park Derby undercard. Bred by Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings LLC, the April foal is out of...

An assistant starter at Zia Park has been ruled off by the track's stewards for six months for slapping a filly in the head four times while the animal was locked in the gate prior to a race going off. Ramon Alvarez has not appealed the ban, which went into effect Nov. 2 and runs through May 1, 2021, according to Izzy Trejo, the executive director of the New Mexico Racing Commission. The abuse took place Oct. 20 during a mixed-meet card of Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses at Zia. Alvarez...

Roy Cobb's homebred Mr Money Bags (Silver City) will be crowned as the 2019 Texas Horse of the Year at the Texas Thoroughbred Association's annual meeting and awards banquet Mar. 21 at Sam Houston Race Park. The night will also celebrate divisional Texas-bred champions with awards based on points earned in stakes performances during the year. Mr Money Bags had six wins from nine starts and earnings of $328,470 as a 3-year-old in 2019. The gelding was undefeated in his home state, winning a division of the Clarence Scharbauer Jr....