Sunland Park, the New Mexico racetrack and casino that sits on the western edge of El Paso, Texas, has been sold to Strategic Gaming Management, a casino operator with properties in Nevada and South Dakota.
The sale of the track, which annually runs a mixed meet of around 55 days each year from January to early April, was approved at a Sept. 30 meeting of the New Mexico Racing Commission, effective Oct. 15, according to Ismael Trejo, the executive director of the commission.
The pick six will be more expensive at Del Mar this fall.
Track officials received approval from the California Horse Racing Board on Thursday to increase the minimum wager from $1 to $2.
The 16-day season starts on Oct. 30 and includes the Breeders’ Cup races on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1. The pick six will have a $1 minimum on Breeders’ Cup race days, according to documents Del Mar filed with the racing board.
Disco Time has won stakes in Illinois and Louisiana and might soon land on the East Coast.
The unbeaten 3-year-old could be headed to New York next month for the $200,000 Dwyer at Aqueduct on Nov. 8, according to his trainer, Brad Cox.
Disco Time, who is based in Kentucky, has come under consideration for the one-mile race following his win in the $250,000 St. Louis Derby on Sept. 19 at Fairmount Park.
So There She Was, who won the $200,000 Remington Park Oaks last month in Oklahoma, and Lemon Zest, who finished second as the favorite, are both under consideration for the Grade 2, $300,000 Mother Goose at Aqueduct, according to their respective trainers.
The 1 1/8-mile race for 3-year-old fillies will be run Nov. 8.
So There She Was shipped in from Santa Anita for the Remington Park Oaks, where she was a 2 3/4-length winner, one start after running second in the Grade 3 Torrey Pines at Del Mar.
Touchuponastar’s primary objective for the remainder of the year is the $150,000 Louisiana Champions Day Classic on Dec. 13 at Fair Grounds, according to his owner, Jake Delhomme. The Grade 2 winner has won the race the last three years.
Touchuponastar remains in peak form for trainer Jeff Delhomme, and last weekend opened the Delta Downs meet with a track-record performance in the $100,000 Gold Cup.
The Southern California Thoroughbred training roster recently lost two members with the retirement of Ray Bell and Eoin Harty’s decision to relocate to Kentucky on a full-time basis.
Bell, 71, had his final runner at Santa Anita in May and opted not to ship a small stable to Del Mar for the summer meeting. Harty, 62, had his final starter in California at the end of July. He is currently based at Turfway Park.
ELMONT, N.Y. - When Belmont Park reopens for racing in September 2026, the new building will not be a finished product, New York Racing Association officials said Wednesday, which will lead to limited patron access.
“It’s still going to be an active [construction] site,” NYRA president and CEO Dave O’Rourke said. “We’ll have the first two floors done. We’ll have to limit [access] to some extent. The real question right now is how much of the grounds [will be open] because we’ve got about 30 acres here so people will be able to watch the races.”
Richard Craigo, a leading equine tax attorney and a former regional president of the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, died Oct. 6 at the age of 91, according to his friends.
Born in Hot Springs, Ark., in 1934, Craigo lived in Los Angeles for much of his life. As a tax attorney, he represented numerous clients in California racing, notably Bob and Beverly Lewis, Allen Paulson, Marty Wygod, Bill Shoemaker, and Charlie Whittingham, according to an obituary published by Santa Anita’s publicity department.
ARCADIA, Calif. – The recent training of the older sprinter Big City Lights is tempting trainer Richard Mandella into big ideas.
A winner of 7 of 13 starts, the 6-year-old Big City Lights is being prepared for a comeback likely to occur in the $100,000 The Chosen Vron Stakes for California-breds at seven furlongs on Nov. 8 at Del Mar.
However, the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Del Mar a week earlier has Mandella’s attention for Big City Lights’s first start since an easy win by 7 3/4 lengths in the California Cup Sprint for statebreds at Santa Anita in January.
ARCADIA, Calif. – A day after she worked a slow half-mile at Santa Anita, Om N Joy was confirmed for her first start outside of California in Saturday’s Grade 2 Raven Run Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Keeneland.
Trainer Aggie Ordonez and the partnership that owns Om N Joy – Connie and Jerry Baker, Michael Golovko, and Terrence Scanlan – debated Sunday whether to skip the $400,000 Raven Run in favor of a start in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff on Nov. 1 at Del Mar but have opted for the trip to Kentucky.
