Zia Park Oaks tops rich, five-stakes card

In the last year, officials at the Penn Gaming-owned Zia Park in Hobbs, N.M., set out to create a stakes that had the potential to land the track its first graded race for Thoroughbreds. That led to the creation of the $300,000 Zia Park Oaks, which will have its inaugural running on Sunday. An eclectic cast of nine has been entered for the 1 1/16-mile race that will be supported by four other stakes on a “Land of Enchantment” program that includes the $200,000 Zia Park Derby.

In a surprising development, forecasters are calling for a high of 34 degrees and the possibility of a “wintery mix,” according to The Weather Channel.

Oscar Party, who in July topped the Del Mar paddock sale with a bid of $510,000, arrived from her Southern California base on Thursday for the Zia Oaks. The field includes Unusual Way, a three-time stakes winner in from Santa Anita; Gold Medal Dancer and Sister Ginger, who ran second and third, respectively, in the $200,000 Remington Park Oaks; and Midnight Flute, who last raced at Churchill Downs.

Oscar Party was sent to Zia for a couple of reasons, said Jim Cassidy, who trains the filly for Deron Pearson.

“We were looking for a 3-year-old filly race and the only other one was the Comely in New York,” Cassidy said. “We just thought we’d come to Hobbs.”

Cassidy said the race also was an opportunity to get Oscar Party back on a dirt surface. A stakes winner on turf, Oscar Party in a rare main-track start on Oct. 5 finished second in the Grade 2 Indiana Oaks. For the effort, Oscar Party earned a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 91.

“With her pedigree, it looks like she’ll run just as well, if not better, on the dirt,” said Cassidy, who has given the mount to David Flores.

Unusual Way is also returning to dirt, a surface on which she finished second in the $200,000 Sunland Park Oaks in March.

“It’s a chance, one more time, to race against straight 3-year-olds,” said Jeff Bonde, who trains Unusual Way. “She likes the dirt, ran well at Sunland.

“We freshened up and have been aiming for this spot.”

The Zia Park Oaks will be Unusual Way’s first start since September, when she finished ninth in the $82,000 Unzip Me at 6 1/2 furlongs on turf at Santa Anita.

“She didn’t handle coming off the hill,” Bonde said of the downhill course that crosses over the dirt track at Santa Anita.

Unusual Way, a stakes winner on turf and dirt for owners Edward Brown Jr. and Phil Lebherz, is to be ridden by Edwin Maldonado.

Gold Medal Dancer is seeking her first stakes win after being edged by a nose in the Remington Park Oaks.

“It was painful to lose the photo by half an inch,” said trainer Donnie Von Hemel. “The good part is that it was a really big effort from her. She’s a really nice filly and has just trained lights-out since then.”

Luis Quinonez has the mount for Pin Oak Stable.

Von Hemel also will send out I Am Miss Brown, a recent allowance winner over older rivals at Remington for McNeill Stables and Cheyenne Stables.

“We gave her the summer off and she’s come back and run a couple of nice races,” Von Hemel said. “We wanted to take a shot with 3-year-old fillies while we still can.”

Terry Thompson has the mount.

The Zia Oaks will go as the 10th of 11 races Sunday, with a post of 4:06 p.m. Mountain. The race will be shown on HRTV and there will be radio coverage on HRRN.