Shortened meet begins Monday with reduced purses

The Zia Park meet that opens Monday in Hobbs, N.M., will have a different look this year due to changes brought about by the coronavirus pandemic.

The season will span 36 dates versus the intended 54, the stakes schedule is restricted to horses bred in New Mexico, and the first week of racing will be conducted spectator-free. The meet originally was scheduled to begin Sept. 21.

Zia is set to run through Dec. 23, with racing every Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

The track’s onsite casino has been closed since March. New Mexico has not yet permitted casinos at the state’s tracks to reopen, according to Chris McErlean, vice president of racing for Penn National Gaming, parent company of Zia.

“That has an obvious trickle-down effect on the racing,” he said of the meet at Zia. “The vast amount of purse money is generated by the casino. I would say over 95 percent.”

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The track’s overnight purses averaged $220,000 a day last year, and will average $95,000 a program this meet, according to McErlean. The stakes schedule was worth $2.7 million last year, and is worth about $600,000 this meet.

The Land of Enchantment card featuring the $250,000 Zia Park Derby and $250,000 Zia Park Oaks for Thoroughbreds will not be run this year. Most of the New Mexico Cup stakes will have reduced purses. They will be conducted over two dates in November. The races for Quarter Horses are Nov. 9 and the offerings for Thoroughbreds on Nov. 11.

In 2019, the races were held on a single card in October. They are being split up this year because the 12-race series will take place after daylight saving time and it gets dark earlier, said McErlean.

“We’re trying to make the best of it,” he said. “It’s not what anybody wants or expected, but the fact that we’re having them, period, I guess is somewhat of a victory at this point.”

Zia plans to run 10 races a day, with four Quarter Horse races on average to start the card and six for Thoroughbreds on the back end of the card, McErlean said.

There will be no fans in the stands for at least the first three cards of the meet.

“At the current time, at least for the opening week, only horsemen will be permitted,” McErlean said. “No owners, no outside individuals will be permitted on the grounds for the races. We’ll evaluate that as we move forward, but for the opening, at least the opening three days of the meet, there will be no outside people permitted.”

McErlean said free live streaming video of the races will be available at ziaparkcasino.com.

Bill Belcher has joined Zia as general manager after serving in the same capacity at Retama Park near San Antonio.

First post daily is 12 p.m. Mountain.