Ruidoso begins 54-day meet with Quarter Horse trials

Ruidoso Downs begins its annual Quarter Horse and Thoroughbred meeting on Friday, two weeks earlier than recent years, and hopes to build on successful business from 2018.

Friday’s 10-race program, which begins at 1 p.m. Mountain, includes seven divisions of the Ruidoso Maiden Stakes time trials for Quarter Horses at 350 yards followed by three races for Thoroughbreds. The Maiden Stakes, being run for the first time, is restricted to 3- to 5-year-olds who were winless as of March 1. The finals, with an estimated purse of $116,000, will be run May 27.

The season runs through Sept. 2, concluding with the $3 million All American Futurity for 2-year-old Quarter Horses at 440 yards. The richest Thoroughbred races are three sprint stakes for 2-year-old statebreds with estimated purses of $175,000 – the Mountain Top Futurity on June 22, the Rio Grande Senorita Futurity for fillies on Sept. 1, and the Rio Grande Senor Futurity for colts and geldings on Sept. 2.

Ruidoso Downs increased overnight purses during the 2018 meeting and starts the 17-week season on Friday with “a cushion” in the purse account, according to track president and general manager Jeff True.

“I’m optimistic we will have a purse increase,” True said in a phone interview earlier this week.

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The 2018 meeting saw a 10 percent gain in all-sources total handle to $26.4 million, while ontrack handle increased 4 percent, according to a track statement released last September.

Friday’s opening day is the earliest since 1995. There are 54 days of racing, primarily Fridays-through-Sundays, with additional dates on Memorial Day, July 4, and Labor Day.

A key component for continued success will be average field size. Last summer, the track averaged 8.37 runners per race – 7.18 in Thoroughbred races and 8.95 in Quarter Horse races. From Friday through Sunday this week, there are 11 Thoroughbred races with six starters each. The 19 Quarter Horse races drew larger fields.

Thoroughbred entries may have been affected by the conclusion of the Sunland Park meeting on Sunday, three weeks later than the last two years. Many stables are in the midst of making the 140-mile move between the southern New Mexico venues.

“The entries were a little soft,” True said. “We put the Maiden stakes [trials] on opening day and we knew we’d need the horses. That pushed some of the Quarter Horse guys to get here.”

Over the winter, the track conducted a major refurbishment of its turf club, and added 50 slot machines to its nearby casino, a vital source of revenue for the racing operation.

Each New Mexico track is allotted 600 slot machines. Because of its smaller size and location farther from population centers, Ruidoso Downs leases some of its slot machine allowance to two other tracks in New Mexico – Sunland Park and Zia Park – on a revenue-sharing basis.

This will be the track’s second season under the direction of a management team that acquired the track in late 2017 from longtime owner R.D. Hubbard.