Ruidoso Downs, battling flash floods, to run remainder of meet at The Downs at Albuquerque

Ruidoso Downs announced on Sunday that it has canceled the final six weeks of racing because of frequent flash floods since late June and will run the remainder of the meeting at The Downs at Albuquerque approximately 180 miles to the north.

Ruidoso Downs was scheduled to continue at the southern New Mexico venue through Sept. 2.

The decision to relocate means such famous races as the All American Derby and $3 million All American Futurity will be run at Albuquerque on Sept. 1 and 2, according to Ruidoso Downs track owner Johnny Trotter.

The All American Futurity is the world’s richest Quarter Horse race.

Ruidoso Downs canceled the final five races on Saturday’s program and its 12-race program on Sunday because of a major flood on Saturday afternoon that inundated a considerable part of the Thoroughbred track and infield.

Saturday’s flood was the most recent, and most severe, caused by a series of rainstorms that have affected racing days. The track has been vulnerable to flooding since a massive wildfire struck the mountains near the track on June 15, leading to the cancellation of racing on June 21-23. The fire consumed more than 25,000 acres.

Racing was canceled on June 29 and 30 because of floods. Another flood struck the track on July 9, a day without racing. The track was able to resume racing as scheduled on July 12.

Some areas north and west of the track, including hillsides burned in the fires, sustained anywhere from a third of an inch to 1.8 inches of rain in a 24-hour period ending on Saturday afternoon, according to the United States Geological Survey website.

Runoff from those storms has flowed down the mountains through a river, the Rui Ruidoso, that traverses the racetrack through two bridges that cover the first and clubhouse turns of the Thoroughbred track.

The normally small river has been unable to contain the flow of mud, water and debris from nearby hillsides at times in recent weeks, leading to flooding of the first turn and part of the backstretch.

Saturday’s flood was so severe that vehicle traffic from track parking lots to nearby roads was halted.

Severe rainstorms are common in the southern New Mexico mountains in late summer.

“There was no way out of this deal,” Trotter said of the severe recent floods.

Trotter said time trials for the All American Futurity will be run as scheduled at Albuquerque on Aug. 9-10 and that trials for the All American Derby and Oaks will be run on Aug. 11.

This weekend, Ruidoso was scheduled to run the $792,229 Rainbow Derby on Saturday, and the $483,384 Rainbow Oaks for 3-year-old fillies and $368,451 Zia Futurity for statebreds on Sunday. Those races are tentatively scheduled to be run next Saturday at Albuquerque, Trotter said.

By running the Rainbow Derby and Rainbow Oaks next weekend, there will be a two-week gap between those finals and the time trials for the All American Derby and Oaks.

The Rainbow Derby and Rainbow Oaks were postponed from an original date of July 13-14 because late June floods forced the postponement of time trials to early July.

With the relocation away from Ruidoso Downs, two horse sales have been relocated to Tingley coliseum in Albuquerque, including the prestigious Ruidoso Quarter Horse yearling sale on Labor Day weekend.

The lack of racing in Ruidoso in coming weeks will be a severe blow to the area’s economy, which relies to a large extent on tourism from race fans for late summer revenue. Local businesses have had a difficult summer caused by the wildfires and recent floods.

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