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Live Racing Returns To Albuquerque Downs On Saturday

Albuquerque Downs in New Mexico will open its 27-day Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse meet on Saturday, Aug. 14. First post is set for 6:05 p.m. (MDT).

The track's nine-race opening-night program consists of nine races, six for Quarter Horses and three for Thoroughbreds. Saturday's feature race, the first running of the 440-yard, $75,000 Bank of America Albuquerque Championship Challenge, has drawn a field of nine aged Quarter Horses, headed by Stinebaugh Racing Enterprises' Perrys Double Down and Christina D. Robinson's CERs Final Try.

A 4-year-old Mr Jess Perry gelding trained by John Stinebaugh, Perrys Double Down is coming off of a one-length victory in the 400-yard, $40,000 Mr Jet Moore Stakes (G2) at Ruidoso Downs on July 25. Perrys Double Down has earned $281,840 from 14 races, and he ended his 3-year-old season with a half-length victory in the 440-yard, $393,000 Texas Classic Derby (G1) at Lone Star Park near Dallas.

CERs Final Try will be stretching out in distance off of his half-length win in the 350-yard, $25,000 John Andreini Memorial Stakes at Ruidoso Downs on May 31. Tony Sedillo trains the homebred 4-year-old son of One Dashing Eagle.

Saturday's card at Albuquerque Downs includes the 1-mile, $20,000 Downs at Albuquerque Marathon Claiming Stakes for $6,250 claimers, the first leg of the track's three-race Marathon Series for Thoroughbreds, and an 870-yard, $42,400 open-condition allowance race which drew reigning AQHA distance champion Madewell and will serve as a prep for the September 18, $60,000-estimated AQHA Albuquerque Distance Challenge (G3).

According to Don Cook, Downs' president of racing, average daily purses at the track are expected to average a track-record $300,000 per day. Business has been brisk at the track's casino since it reopened earlier this year after being closed due to COVID-19 restrictions.

“We've also noticed a big increase in our simulcast handle,” Cook said. “When the COVID lockdowns first started, horse racing was the only sport that was still going on; horse racing was receiving a lot of television coverage and appears to have generated some new fans.

“It will be interesting to see if that translates into increased attendance for our live meet,” he added. “We're encouraged by the early returns.”

If opening weekend entries are any indication, Cook has good reason to be encouraged. Saturday's opening-day program drew 95 entries, or an average of 10.6 horses per race. Sunday's nine race card, which is headed by two Thoroughbred stakes, attracted 97 starters, or an average of 10.8 horses per race.

The main portion of Albuquerque Downs' 2021 season runs through Sunday, Sept. 19. The track's stakes schedule features 23 races, 13 for Thoroughbreds and 10 for Quarter Horses. The Thoroughbred stakes schedule is topped by the 1 1/8-mile, $200,000 Downs at Albuquerque Handicap on Sept. 18. Last year's winner, Restrainedvengence, has earned $142,960 from nine starts in California this season, and he won the June 20 American Stakes (G3) at Santa Anita Park.

Albuquerque Downs' Quarter Horse stakes schedule is headed by the 440-yard, $300,000 Albuquerque Fall Championship (G1), presented by South Point Hotel and Casino, on closing day. Danjer, the winner of last year's Fall Championship, went on to earn AQHA champion aged horse honors.

Albuquerque Downs will also host the AQHA's Bank of America Challenge Championships on Saturday, Oct. 23, making the track the first in the 28-year history of the program to host the event three consecutive seasons. Next year's Challenge Championships will be held at Indiana Grand Casino and Racecourse near Indianapolis.

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Race Track Chaplaincy Of America Seeking Nominees For White Horse Award

A hero is a person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities. There are heroes all around the horse-racing industry and the Race Track Chaplaincy of America (RTCA) wants to give recognition to these selfless servants.

Therefore, the Race Track Chaplaincy of America (RTCA) is currently seeking nominees for its 19th Annual White Horse Award (WHA). This year's winner(s) will be announced on Tuesday, Nov. 2, at Del Mar Racetrack in Del Mar, Calif., just prior to the beginning of the Breeders' Cup World Championships. It is a way to recognize those unsung heroes of horse racing, whether their actions are headline-grabbing or the quiet and not-so-obvious kind of heroism.

The White Horse Award is an annual award given to individuals who have done something heroic on behalf of human or horse within the last 12 months. To submit a nomination for this award, visit our website https://www.rtcanational.org/events.

The deadline for submission is Sept. 18, 2021. For more information, please contact the RTCA National Service Center at (859) 410-7822.

More about the White Horse Award – The WHA was established in 2003 to recognize individuals within the horse racing industry for their acts of selflessness and bravery. The most recent recipient was Victoria Don Dorrian for risking her life to save a loose horse from the backside of Prairie Meadows Racetrack that made his way to the eastbound I-80 interstate, running towards the oncoming traffic.

More about the Race Track Chaplaincy of America – The overall mission of the Race Track Chaplaincy of America (RTCA), through its Councils and Chaplains, is to minister to the spiritual, emotional, physical, social, and educational needs of those persons involved in all aspects of the horse-racing industry.

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Trainer Doug Nunn Continues Overcoming Physical Setbacks In What May Be The Best Year Of His Career

The worst year physically of trainer Doug Nunn's life is heading toward being his best one professionally. Whether that's coincidence or just a matter of everything coming together after 29 years as a trainer he can't say for sure.

But he does have a theory.

“I think it's because I'm off the horses right now,” he joked.

Nunn, a former jockey who has been Monmouth Park-based since 2000, has always exercised the horses he trains, doing so from the time he launched his second career in 1992. That changed on May 3.

Nunn was getting on a horse when he slipped on a bag of shavings. From the fall he snapped his right quadriceps muscle and had to undergo a complicated re-attachment surgery. That left him in a cast and a boot for two months.

“I've ridden horses my whole life. I've always exercised my own horses,” said Nunn. “This is the first time I haven't been able to do that. After you've done it for 30 years that way, just from being on them I can tell you anything about a horse after getting on one. So it's a whole new perspective to see them from the ground and train them from the ground.

“It's hard for me. It's a big adjustment. I learn something new every day.”

The new perspective hasn't had an impact on his results – unless a year that could wind up as the best of his career counts. Nunn is currently 8-for-32 at the Monmouth Park meet and has 11 winners overall from 61 starters. His winning percentage is the highest it has ever been, as is the average earnings per start.

He can now take dead aim at a career-best 17 wins that he recorded in 2011 – again in large part because of his injury.

Nunn, 52, has annually headed to nearby Overbrook Farm to break horses in the winter after the Monmouth Park meet ends. This year, because of his physical limitations, he can no longer do that. So he will ship to Tampa Downs with a division for the first time when Monmouth Park closes.

“Usually at this time of year I'd have 17 or 18 of my own horses and I would start to think about the 20 or so yearlings I would be breaking in another few months on the farm,” he said. “I can't break the horses anymore because of my leg so we'll try to keep things going and try to keep the momentum going by going to Tampa for the first time.”

Nunn, whose twin brother David retired as a trainer this year, comes from a racing family. Both of his parents were trainers at Finger Lakes, where he grew up, and his sister, Michelle Harris, was an accomplished jockey.

So he understands that running a 27-horse stable requires a lot of help.

“My help has been the difference, since I couldn't do anything for quite a while,” said Nunn, citing assistants Kendall Wyszynski, Rafael Aguilar, Fernando Arellano and Melissa Iorio as professional lifesavers when he was incapacitated. “I had to depend on them and they have done a great job. My wife (Maria van Sant) keeps me grounded. So it's a good mix.”

Nunn's stable, which consists mostly of claimers, Jersey-breds and some allowance-quality horses, will look to add to its success during Friday's twilight card at Monmouth Park. He has entered Postino's Idol, an 8-year-old mare recently claimed off a win by Winner Circle Stable, and Ask Around, a 3-year-old coming off a maiden special weight win, in the $71,875 allowance optional claimer that will serve as the feature.

Nunn expects to be able to saddle both, but isn't sure yet since he is scheduled to undergo a procedure on Thursday to remove kidney stones that have plagued him for more than a month.

“It's just one of those years. You learn to take the bad with the good,” he said.

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Delaware Park Cancels Wednesday, Thursday Cards Due To Excessive Heat

Acting upon the recommendation of the Chief Commission Veterinarian of the Delaware Thoroughbred Racing Commission, Delaware Park has cancelled the live racing card scheduled for today, Wednesday, Aug. 11, and tomorrow, Thursday, Aug. 12, due to the excessive heat forecasted for the region.

The Cape Henlopen Stakes, originally scheduled for today, has been rescheduled to be run Monday, Aug. 16.

The national weather service has predicted temperatures in the high 90s with a heat index of value approaching the mid-100s on both Wednesday and Thursday.

Live racing is scheduled to resume on Saturday, Aug. 14.

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