09/28/2012 2:03PM

Zia Park: Chaves County packed with winners

By Mary Rampellini
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Tommie Morelos/Coady Photography
Cali Baby has won six stakes, including stakes for New Mexico-breds in her last two starts.

The six fillies and mares who make up the field for the $60,000 Chaves County at Zia Park in Hobbs, N.M., on Sunday all have a nose for the wire. Between them, they have won 44 races.

Veillit’ leads the field with 12 wins, while Cali Baby boasts 11. Others set to start in the one-mile race include Someplace Else, a six-time winner who invades from Remington Park.

Someplace Else will be moving back to dirt, the surface of all of her wins, following a third-place finish in the $50,000 Ricks Memorial on turf Aug. 31. She has tactical speed and might get a tracking trip behind the rail-drawn Cali Baby and sprint-to-route prospects Pyrite on My Mind and African Rose. Shane Laviolette has the mount on Someplace Else, who will break from post 4 for Prairie Lane Farms and trainer Kelly Von Hemel. She is seeking her third stakes win Sunday.

Cali Baby has won six stakes, including stakes for New Mexico-breds in her last two starts. She won from the rail in the $50,000 Carlos Salazar at the Downs at Albuquerque in her most recent start Aug. 26. Before that, Cali Baby accounted for the $50,000 Lincoln at Ruidoso, a six-furlong race in which she romped by seven lengths July 29. Alejandro Medellin was aboard for both wins and has the mount against Sunday for UKUSA Stables and trainer Eric Mikkelson.

Veillit’ has changed barns three times this year via the claim box, but it has not stopped her winning ways. She has had her picture taken four times in 2012, a high for the field that she shares with starter African Rose. The Chaves County will be the second stakes start for Veillit’, who in 2010 was fifth in the $75,000 California Oaks at Golden Gate. Isaias Enriquez has the mount for trainer Jon Arnett.

◗ There were track records set in the eighth and ninth races on Monday at Zia. Pretend and Extend zipped 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:14.73 in the eighth to lower the 2005 standard of 1:15. And in the ninth, Jam’n Jackson covered 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:01.42 to lower the 2009 mark of 1:02.