Albuquerque plays host to AQHA Challenge Championships

The Downs at Albuquerque closed its traditional meet a month ago, but the track still has one more live program of racing to put on this year. And it’s a significant one – the 27th annual running of the American Quarter Horse Association’s Challenge Championships is returning to New Mexico on Saturday for the first time since 1993.

Albuquerque is hosting the traveling series of graded stakes for the first time. The night program will feature 10 races, including five graded stakes led by the Grade 1, $250,000 Bank of America Challenge Championship for 3-year-olds and up at 440 yards. The horses competing in the five graded races won regional qualifiers throughout North and South America.

“We hope people from New Mexico and the surrounding states will come out and watch the fastest horses in the world come down our track,” said Don Cook, president of racing for the Downs at Albuquerque. “We’re expecting weather in the low 60s. If that holds on, that will be nice. October is the best time of year in Albuquerque.”

Saturday’s card is worth $950,000, which makes it the richest program for Quarter Horses in the history of Albuquerque, Cook said.

Albuquerque wrapped its annual mixed meet Sept. 22, but the facility has been far from dormant. It makes for an easy transition to putting on the special card Saturday.

“It’s pretty doable here because we are open year round for training,” Cook said of the facility, which has 300 horses on the grounds. “It’s not like we have to open and close the track. We’ve got a full time track crew, security.”

Cook said Friday that the 48 horses eligible to run in the Challenge Championships stakes are already settled in, as they had to be on the grounds about two weeks in advance of the event to take part in mandatory hair testing. Horses undergoing the same testing for undercard stakes were due on the grounds Saturday.

The draw Wednesday kick starts a week’s worth of activities. It will be a ceremonial draw, with a luncheon at The First Turn Lounge starting at 10:30 a.m. Mountain. The festivities Thursday include a golf tournament at a local country club and a fashion show in the track’s Jockey Club. Friday night brings a concert by Little Texas and Rick Trevino, while the AQHA has racing workshops and committee and council meetings from Thursday through Saturday. First post for the Challenge Championships card is 6:05 p.m. Mountain.

“We’re excited,” Cook said. “We spent a lot of money remodeling our grandstand and we want to show it off. We think it’s a beautiful facility. We’ve got people coming from Brazil, Mexico, Canada, and from Florida to California. We’re doing everything possible to put on a good show.”

Albuquerque also will host the Challenge Championships in 2020.