Zia Park Oaks draws nine, including Unusual Way, Oscar Party

The inaugural $300,000 Zia Park Oaks drew a field of nine Sunday led by Southern California shippers Unusual Way and Oscar Party. The lineup also includes Gold Medal Dancer and Sister Ginger, who finished second and third in the $200,000 Remington Park Oaks.

The Zia Oaks, a 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-old fillies, anchors a new Land of Enchantment program that will be run next Sunday. The card features five stakes worth $845,000 in total. The program is the second-richest of the meet at Zia behind the $2 million New Mexico Cup.

Unusual Way is a three-time stakes winner invading for trainer Jeff Bonde. She will be racing on dirt for the first time since March, when she was second in the $200,000 Sunland Park Oaks. Unusual Way’s recent starts include a runner-up finish in the Grade 2 San Clemente at Del Mar and a fifth-place finish in the Grade 1 Del Mar Oaks. She is to be ridden by Edwin Maldonado.

David Flores has the mount on Oscar Party, a stakes winner last year who was second in the Grade 2 Indiana Oaks on Oct. 5. She is trained by Jim Cassidy.

Gold Medal Dancer was edged by a nose in the Remington Park Oaks in her last start Sept. 29. Luis Quinonez was aboard and retains the mount for trainer Donnie Von Hemel.

The field for the Zia Park Oaks, from the rail with riders, is: I Am Miss Brown, Terry Thompson; Key to My Warrior, Aldo Arboleda; Unusual Way, Maldonado; Midnight Flute, Nancy Summers; Sister Ginger, Ricardo Santana Jr.; Gold Medal Dancer, Quinonez; Lady of Luck, Ry Eikleberry; Oscar Party, Flores; and Comic Kitty, David Cardoso.

The Zia Park Oaks is the 10th race on an 11-race program that begins at noon Mountain. Post time for the Zia Park Oaks is 4:06 p.m.

The card also includes the $200,000 Zia Park Derby, which drew a field of nine, including Broadway Empire, the Grade 3 Oklahoma Derby winner in October who most recently dueled through fast fractions and finished ninth in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. Robertino Diodoro trains Broadway Empire and has given the mount to Geovanni Franco.

The field, from the rail with riders, is: For Cash, Scott Stevens; Carve, Santana Jr.; Clone, Dusty Shepherd; I Stand Alone, Eikleberry; Indycott, Ken Tohill; Show Some Magic, Enrique Gomez; Broadway Empire, Franco; Real Heat, Alfredo Juarez Jr.; and Unbridled Giant, Summers.

The Zia Park Derby, for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles, will go as the ninth race at 3:37 p.m.

Grade 1 winner Jaycito is among the 12 horses entered in the $150,000 Zia Park Distance Championship for 3-year-olds and up at 1 1/8 miles. Flores has the mount for trainer Justin Evans. The Distance Championship will go as the 11th race at 4:35 p.m.

The program also includes the $55,000 Zia Park Distaff for fillies and mares at six furlongs and the $140,000 Eddy County Stakes for 2-year-olds bred in New Mexico.