Sunray Park Racing
Click Here for Photos
Handle, purses on the rise at SunRay
By Steve Bortstein For The Daily Times
The recently concluded live racing season at SunRay Park and Casino saw increases in on-track and off-track handle, as well as increases in purse distribution for owners and horsemen.
On-track handle for the live racing season, which concluded Sept. 4, saw a three percent increase in on-track handle and a 13 percent increase for off-track handle, according to director of simulcast operations Toni Authurs.
The purse increases were significant, with a daily average distribution of over $96,800, more than $8,000 a day over last year's daily purses, for an increase of over seven percent.
"The purse increases led to better horses racing here, and that made it possible for us to have quality racing, which led to an increase in handle," Authurs said about the figures on Thursday.
Better racing did go a long way to showing increases in handle, both on track and across the country. With quality fields in many of the track's thoroughbred and quarter horse stakes races this meet, the people wagering on those races were treated with some good betting action.
Good racing leads to good betting — it goes hand in hand.
Live racing in New Mexico is currently going on at Albuquerque Downs during the state fair. Zia Park in Hobbs will open Sept. 23 and will race through Dec. 12. Live racing will return to SunRay Park next May 3, with a Thursday through Sunday schedule, which will run until July 15.
With the quality of racing improving on a steady basis in New Mexico, and the recently successful season at SunRay Park, it's easy to understand why there is optimism of even more success in bringing excellent racing back to the Four Corners next spring.
With just about eight weeks remaining before the 2006 Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships coming up at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., it's time now to start looking ahead at some of the favorites for the biggest racing day of the entire year.
The $5 million Classic, which headlines the Breeders' Cup program on Nov. 4, is already shaping up to be an excellent race with broad, international scope.
In addition to Lava Man and Invasor, currently the leading older horses in America, there promises to be serious competition from the likes of 3-year-olds Bernardini and Discreet Cat.
Bernardini will face older horses for the first time next month in the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park. In addition to his romping win earlier this spring in the Preakness Stakes, Bernardini also won the Travers Stakes last month at Saratoga and is the leading candidate for top 3-year-old.
Discreet Cat, owned by Goldolphin Stables, may be a late entrant in the Classic. He won an allowance race at Saratoga last month, his first start since winning the United Arab Emirates Derby in Dubai last March. His owners had originally planned on skipping the Breeders' Cup altogether, until their star older runner and Dubai World Cup winner Electrocutionist passed away after suffering a heart attack.
The $3 million Breeders' Cup Turf is also shaping up to be an epic. European shippers like Dylan Thomas, Ouija Board and Shirocco lead a deep international contingent, while English Channel, The Tin Man and Cacique will also vie for favoritism if all things hold up over the course of the next 50 days.
We'll continue to update you on the contenders and the pretenders for the Breeders' Cup over the next several weeks in this column space. Hopefully we'll point you in the right direction.
Good luck at the races.
© 2008