We just want to get some recognition on the calendar.' Zia Park is not the easiest place to get to. 'I think, you know, guys with good horses if the purse money is there they will take a shot,' McErlean said. Horseplayers will be greeted with just 6.22 starters per race. Tuesday's Land of Enchantment card, which kicks off with two quarter-horse races, has come lacking in field size in the eight Thoroughbred heats. He will ride None Above the Law, the 4-1 second choice in the Zia Park Derby, A Paycheque Smile (15-1) in the Princess and Aquitania Arrival, the 2-1 morning-line favorite in the Juvenile.

Prat also has three assignments for Southern California-based trainer Peter Miller.

Ortiz will ride all six of Asmussen’s starters.Īs for Prat, Southern California’s perennial top rider, he has mounts in five of the seven open stakes including aboard morning-line favorite Lady Mystify (6-5) in the Oaks for trainer Peter Eurton. The Hall of Fame trainer’s other starters are Pauline’s Pearl (9-5) in the Oaks, Optionality (3-1) in the Princess and Much Better in the Sprint. In his two most recent outings, Super Stock won the Ellis Park Derby and was third in the Oklahoma Derby (G3).Īsmussen also has the morning-line favorites in the Distaff with Casual (3-5) and Championship with Tenfold (8-5). Super Stock, who was 16th in this year’s Kentucky Derby, is the 1-5 favorite for trainer Steve Asmussen in a field of five set for the 1 1/16-mile Zia Park Derby. “We’re not the biggest player in the space, but this provides us a little bit of a limelight,” he said. McErlean added the Land of Enchantment Day program “gives us a chance to shine the spotlight on Zia Park. We tried to fill a niche there and put up a halfway decent amount of money for these races.” “We saw on the calendar at this time of the year that 3-year-olds are mainly running against older horses, so this is kind of your last shot at a 3-year-old stakes. “We created this about seven or eight years ago to have a signature event for non-New Mexico breds that would maybe attract some horses to Zia,” said Christpher McErlean, vice president of racing for Zia Park owner Penn National Gaming Inc. Money Bags, and the Zia Park Juvenile and Zia Park Princess, both worth $50,000. Supporting the Zia Park Derby are the $200,000 Zia Park Oaks, $75,000 Zia Park Championship Handicap for older horses, $75,000 Zia Park Distaff, $75,000 Zia Park Sprint featuring 2019 winner Mr. Click here for Zia Park entries and results

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