Sam Houston to hold MBNA

Sam Houston Race Park in Houston will be the site of the 2004 running of the MBNA America Challenge Championship, the American Quarter Horse Association announced Thursday. The series, a Breeders' Cup-style championship card for Quarter Horses made up of six divisional stakes worth a total of more than $1 million, will be held at date yet to be specified in the fall of 2004.

The Challenge Championship was to be held at Lone Star Park near Dallas under the event's normal rotation schedule, but Lone Star will not be running Quarter Horses next fall and instead will hold a brief Thoroughbred meet to accommodate the Breeders' Cup on Oct. 30, 2004.

Sam Houston picked up Lone Star's fall meet for Quarter Horses for the year, and the Quarter Horse industry agreed to have the championship event at the track. This year, the Challenge Championship is being held at Los Alamitos on Nov. 1.

The top race in the series is the Grade 1, $300,000 MBNA America Challenge Championship for 3-year-olds and up at 440 yards.