The 84-year-old horseman Gary Cross has a simple training approach with Corrina Corrina, the all-time richest New Mexico-bred Thoroughbred who runs Monday in the $200,000 Peppers Pride at Zia Park.“She’s her own boss,” he said. “I’m just along for the ride.”It has been quite the run for Corrina Corrina, a winner of 21 races from 41 starts for earnings of $1.3 million. She has won stakes spanning from one turn to three and defeated males as well as fellow fillies and mares, who she will meet at one mile in the Peppers Pride.The race is one of seven Thoroughbred stakes on the annual New Mexico Cup card. The races are worth a combined $1.1 million. New Mexico-breds dominate the entries, but this year, in a new twist, the races also are open to registered Arizona-breds who are enrolled with the New Mexico Horse Breeders Association.Corrina Corrina will be moving back to two turns after winning an allowance prep Nov. 10 at Zia. Corrina Corrina defeated males while covering six furlongs in 1:08.40.“It was going six furlongs and that’s not really her lick,” Cross said. “But she ran by them pretty quick. I think she’s better going a route of ground than she is short. She’s got such a closing kick.”The Peppers Pride drew a field of six that includes a new face to the division in Matilda’s Mark, a 3-year-old who has won her last three starts by a combined margin of 29 3/4 lengths. She will start from post 6, while Corrina Corrina will start from post 2 under regular rider Tracy Hebert.“I haven’t seen how much speed’s in there, but this track has been favoring speed,” Cross said. “But I guess she run that off the board the other day when she came from behind and beat the boys.Corrina Corrina is a 6-year-old daughter of Mr. Trieste and the Carson City mare Scared Money. She races for her breeder, Derrick Jenkins. Zia, located in Hobbs, N.M., is something of a home track for Corrina Corrina.“I had her mom, ran her a couple of times, and had the dad,” Cross said. “We made almost $600,000 with Mr. Trieste. That’s one of the reasons I like to come to Hobbs, because he’s out there on Derrick’s farm. He’s 24 years old now.”As for Corrina Corrina, she continues to be the star of the show for Cross.“She’s a once in a lifetime for me,” he said.Rocky GulchLet Him Be will be making a rare start around two turns in the $200,000 Rocky Gulch, which is for 3-year-olds and up over 1 1/16 miles. He was a winner the last time he routed, which came in April of 2024.The Rocky Gulch, however, was not the first New Mexico Cup stakes choice for Let Him Be, according to his trainer, Joel Marr.“That wasn’t the plan at all,” he said. “They didn’t use the Sprint,” which was scheduled for six furlongs.“I’m not worried about the distance as far as his ability to go the distance. It’s just that that wasn’t our plan. We weren’t training for that race. We were getting him ready for the Sprint. That’s the only problem. “It’s six days, seven days out when we know that that’s not going to happen. There’s not a whole lot you can do at that point to get them ready, instead of going six furlongs to go [another five-sixteenths of a mile].”Let Him Be is the class of the seven-horse field as an earner of $652.663. The son of Sway Away is 13 for 16 and overall has won six stakes for V Bar V Racing. So far in 2025, he is 3 for 4. Last year, he was 6 for 7. “He’s had a good season,” Marr said. “We’ve been off, didn’t race in the summer in New Mexico for the first time ever for Thoroughbreds.”Let Him Be will start from post 4 under Miguel T. Fuentes Jr. He could be prominent on the stretchout in distance.“Hopefully he just relaxes, wherever that puts him,” Marr said. “He’ll need to relax until the head of the lane.”Juvenile, LassieThe unbeaten Speed Merchant is seeking his fourth career win in the $150,000 Juvenile. In the other race for 2-year-olds, Remington Park leading rider Ramon Vazquez has the mount on Caprock Cutie in the $150,000 Lassie.Oaks, DerbyShez Punctual makes her stakes debut in the $150,000 Oaks at 6 1/2 furlongs. She is 2 for 2 for Marr. For the $150,000 Derby at the same distance, Marr saddles 12-length maiden winner American Ranger Bb.◗ In other stakes, First Again moves back into restricted company for the $150,000 Distaff at six furlongs after defeating open foes in an allowance at Zia.