COVER 1 - NMHBA SUMMER 2017 low res

By Michael Cusortelli
The new hotel at Sunland Park Racetrack and Casino opened in April.
Esgar Ramirez was named Sunland Park’s
leading Quarter Horse jockey with 26 wins
Mauro Salcedo, who won 24 races from
114 mounts and led all jockeys in mount
earnings at $651,556.
Jose Luis Muela was Sunland Park’s
leading Quarter Horse trainer with nine wins
from 38 starters, one more than runners-up
Adam Tapia (eight winners from 41 starters),
Cynthia Gonzalez, (eight winners from 43
starters), and Wes Giles (eight winners from
62 starters). Gonzalez topped all trainers in
purse earnings at $348,516.
Sunland Park’s leading Quarter Horse
owner, Eloy Humberto Pena, won five races
from 10 starters, two more than runners-up
By By JJ LLC of El Paso, Texas (four wins
from five starters) and Yaneth Cabrera (four
wins from 11 starters). By By JJ LLC was
the meet’s leading Quarter Horse owner in
purse earnings with $204,504.
Sunland Park’s richest and most
prestigious Thoroughbred race, the 1
1/8-mile, $800,000 Sunland Derby (G3)
on March 26, was won by the Kentuckybred
Street Boss colt Hence. A homebred
trained by ridden by Juarez for owner
Calumet Farm and trainer Steve Asmussen,
Hence covered 9 furlongs in 1:48.10 and
his winning margin was 1 1/2 lengths
from Judge Lanier Racing’s Conquest Mo
Money. The colt earned the $400,000
winner’s share of the Sunland Derby purse
and 50 qualifying points for the May 6,
$2-million Kentucky Derby (G1), the first
leg of Thoroughbred racing’s Triple Crown,
at Churchill Downs.
Sunland Derby Day, which featured a
total of seven Thoroughbred stakes, also
drew 16,039 fans on-track, the meet’s
largest crowd of the season. Sunland Derby
Day also drew the meet’s highest one-day
handle, $3,163,994, of which $300,783
was wagered on-track. The Sunland Derby
itself drew a handle of $1,060,571 in the
win-place-show, exacta, trifecta, superfecta,
and super high 5 pools.
“This race has really grown in popularity
since it became graded (in 2013),” Dix said.
“This was the first year that we had to exclude
horses whose connections wanted to enter.”
Enrique Barrera’s Moneys A Maker,
a gray son of Sixes Royal trained by
Cynthia Gonzalez, won the meet’s richest
Quarter Horse stakes, the $362,987 New
Mexican Spring Futurity (RG2) for statebred
juveniles on April 8. The gelding,
who was bred by Dee Mooring and Jaime
Cervantes, covered 300 yards in :15.202
and banked the $170,604 winner’s share
of the purse.
Ry Eikleberry was name Sunland
Park’s leading Thoroughbred jockey
with 65 wins
According to figures provided
by the track, Sunland Park’s
per-race handle reached a
track-record $74,685.
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