Ruidoso Downs has canceled racing from Friday through Sunday this weekend because of massive forest fires near the southern New Mexico facility, track owner Johnny Trotter said on Wednesday morning. Trotter said there are hopes that racing can resume at Ruidoso Downs on the weekend of June 28-30, with time trials scheduled on those days for three major Quarter Horse stakes – the Rainbow Futurity, Rainbow Oaks, and Rainbow Derby. The finals of these races are slated to be run on the weekend of July 13-14. Entries are scheduled to be taken on Friday for the June 28 program. “I think we can go ahead and plan on that,” Trotter said. The cancellation of racing this week comes as the stable area was largely evacuated beginning late Monday, with trainers sending horses to facilities in southern New Mexico, and into Oklahoma and Texas. A fire north of the track was first detected on Monday morning in the Mescalero Apache reservation west and north of Ruidoso Downs and escalated quickly. A mandatory evacuation for the village of Ruidoso was issued later on Monday, with an evacuation of Ruidoso Downs ordered on Tuesday. The racetrack is located in Ruidoso Downs, a separate town to the east of the village of Ruidoso.  :: Get the Inside Track with the FREE DRF Morning Line Email Newsletter. Subscribe now.  A second fire is burning in an area south of the track. The fires have consumed more than 15,000 acres and 1,400 structures, including homes and businesses on a small highway well north of the track that leads to the community of Alto. One death has been attributed to the fire, government officials said on Wednesday. “It’s been pretty destructive,” Trotter said. The fires have struck at the start of a busy tourist season in Ruidoso, which is at an altitude of 6,000 feet and a popular vacation spot in the southwest for people escaping warmer temperatures at lower altitudes. As of early Wednesday the fires had zero containment. Weather conditions may improve. Rain is forecast for later on Wednesday and into Thursday, leading to a flash flood watch for recently burned areas, according to the National Weather Service. Through Monday night and into Tuesday, horse trailers moved runners off the track property, which was beset by smoke but was not in immediate danger of fire, Trotter said. All traffic was directed to the east, toward Roswell, N.M. and Texas. Trotter, a West Texas rancher who bought Ruidoso Downs in 2017 in partnership and took sole ownership in 2023, said the racetrack property has not sustained damage. One issue complicating the eventual resumption of racing is a timely return of the runners who have been sent to various farms and training centers. The Rainbow races are among the most lucrative stakes of the track’s summer season, which continues through Sept. 2. The Rainbow Futurity has an estimated purse of $1 million and is the middle race of a Triple Crown that concludes with the All American Futurity on closing day. James Gonzales, who won the All American Futurity as a jockey in 2003 and now works with his son, trainer James Gonzales 3d, said his family took no chances and began moving 82 horses out of the stable area late Monday. Some runners were sent east to Slaton, Texas, about 250 miles from Ruidoso, while others were shipped on a circuitous route to Tularosa, N.M., about 35 miles west of Ruidoso. The drive from Ruidoso to Tularosa typically takes less than an hour. Because of travel restrictions in place on local highways caused by the fire, the Gonzales horses traveled on a longer route north of Ruidoso and then south to Tularosa. “It was probably two and a half or three hours instead of 45 minutes,” James Gonzales said. Gonzales said he wasted little time in deciding to move the stable, which includes the 2-year-old Kempton, winner of the $1.08 million Heritage Place Futurity at Remington Park on June 1. Gonzales has spent much of his life working at Ruidoso Downs, and saw ominous signs in the early hours of the fire. “I thought, we’re going,” he said. “We’re outta there. We got out of there Monday night. “We had family and friends and our horse hauler and we got them rounded up. Thank God for good people in this world.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.