Multifaceted Sunland makeover includes changes to stakes

Sunland Park has made some sweeping changes to its stakes schedule, simulcast programming, and grandstand facilities for the New Mexico track’s 72-date mixed meet that opens Friday. The season will run through April 19.

The Grade 3, $800,000 Sunland Park Derby on March 20, which leads a $3.8 million stakes schedule, will be run seven weeks out from the Kentucky Derby at this meet as opposed to the typical six-week window. The change was made because of how Easter falls on the calendar but also as a means to give horses time for an additional prep if needed, said Dustin Dix, director of racing for Sunland.

The Sunland Derby, a 1 1/8-mile race won this year by eventual Kentucky Derby runner-up Firing Line, will again anchor a card of seven stakes worth $1.4 million. The program includes the $200,000 Sunland Park Oaks. The Sunland Derby will award its first four finishers Kentucky Derby eligibility points on a scale of 50-20-10-5, while the Sunland Oaks offers the same toward the Kentucky Oaks.

The local preps for the Sunland Derby and Sunland Oaks will share a card for the first time at this meet, with the $100,000 Mine That Bird Derby and the $75,000 Island Fashion Stakes to be held Feb. 20.

In other changes to the stakes program, Dix said Sunland has raised the minimum purse for open-company stakes to $65,000 from $50,000. The Sunland Park Handicap on April 17 has been increased from $75,000 to $150,000. The El Diario, Island Fashion, and Curribot have all been boosted from $50,000 to $75,000.

Sunland’s simulcast programming will be geared toward “interactive racing,” which entails giving the public as much information as possible, said Dix. To that end, plans are to interview the state veterinarian when there is a late scratch, talk with stewards for their explanation of decisions like disqualifications, and produce short features on operations like the test barn.

“We take for granted in racing that everyone understands,” said Rick Baugh, general manager of Sunland. “We don’t want to see just the same old handicapping opening, ‘I picked the 2 horse with the 3, 4, 5.’ We want to get deeper with what’s going on in the sport.”

Eric Alwan, a longtime personality at Sunland, will be the face of the programming along with Sunland’s new social-media director, Molly Jo Rosen.

The simulcast programming also will feature a new graphics package, said Baugh.

Sunland’s makeover for this meet extends to grandstand improvements like added seating and televisions.

“The grandstand area is just totally different now,” said Baugh. “We changed that area from top to bottom, from sound to lighting, to projectors and big screens.”

Sunland also has made changes to the structure of its race week, said Dix. The track will resume racing on Tuesdays at this meet after an absence. The programs on Tuesdays will be all-Thoroughbred cards, he said. The remaining cards will feature a 70-30 split between Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse races, compared to the previous 60-40 split at Sunland.

Sunland’s purses are projected to average $252,000 a program, said Baugh. The stable area includes familiar names like trainers Henry Dominguez and Justin Evans and new faces like Karl Broberg, the current leading trainer in wins in North America. Broberg has a 30-horse division on the grounds, said Dix.

Jockeys Alfredo Juarez Jr., Ry Eikleberry, and Ken Tohill are returning for the new season, while new faces in the riding colony include Francisco Duran and Glen Murphy, who on Wednesday was one win from 3,000 career Thoroughbred victories in North America.

Sunland’s main event for Quarter Horses, the Grade 1, $350,000 Championship, will lead a card of three stakes Dec. 27.