Shorter meet offers record purses

There’s record purse money up for grabs this meet at Zia Park in Hobbs, N.M.

Track officials project Zia will average $350,000 a day in overnight purses during the season that runs through Dec. 20. In addition, Zia’s stakes schedule features three $1 million cards. They include the $1.1 million Land of Enchantment program led by the $300,000 Zia Park Derby and $300,000 Zia Park Oaks on Nov. 28.

The new purse structure puts maiden special weight races for open company at $45,000 and no-conditions allowances at $65,000. The same categories restricted to New Mexico-breds are worth $55,000 and $77,000.

Zia is running less dates this season as New Mexico is seeking to reduce overlap between its meets for the sake of its horse population and those who work at the various tracks. That scenario is one piece of the puzzle that has led to track-record purses at Zia, according to Chris McErlean, vice president of racing for Penn Entertainment, the parent company of Zia.

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“We race 30 days this year, which last year we raced 48,” he said. “And so obviously, a more compressed time frame. And, most of the purse money is generated through casino revenues and our casino here at Zia Park has been very successful over the past year. So, a combination of those two factors is really driving the purse numbers.”

McErlean said Zia has 700 slot machines at its ontrack casino in Hobbs.

The purse money has drawn some new faces to town, among them trainer J.R. Caldwell, who has 25 stalls at Zia. The track is also luring horsemen from Arizona, including trainer Kevin Eikleberry. The local stalwarts include trainers Todd Fincher, Bart Hone, Casey Lambert, Joel Marr, Nancy Summers, and Kentucky Derby-winning horseman Chip Woolley.

Zia’s entries have also included horses from Robertino Diodoro, who said last month he was planning to have a number of horses travel to town for the card of seven stakes making up Land of Enchantment Day.

McErlean said entries for Monday and Tuesday averaged 9.5 horses a race. Both cards are dedicated to Thoroughbreds, which will run on Mondays and Tuesdays during the meet. Zia has tabbed Saturdays and Sundays for Quarter Horses.

The track’s New Mexico Cup has been rebranded and will be split over two cards. The series features rich divisional stakes for New Mexico-breds. McErlean said Zia will put the Quarter Horse stakes on a single card Nov. 26. It will be called the New Mexico Classic Quarter Horse Showcase.

A day later, the New Mexico Classic Thoroughbred Showcase will feature stakes for Thoroughbreds. Each card will be worth approximately $1.2 million, and all of the races on each program will be restricted to horses bred in New Mexico.

There is a special Wednesday card on Dec. 20.

First post this meet is 12:05 p.m. Mountain.

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