FARMINGTON – The 2026 live racing season opens Friday at SunRay Park and Casino with both anticipation for the action and uncertainty about the future.
SunRay Park’s opening weekend consists of three stakes races, beginning Friday with the $70,000 New Mexico Breeders Stakes, for 3-year-old statebred quarter horses racing 400 yards.
Saturday and Sunday’s cards will be highlighted by thoroughbred stakes races, with the $75,000 Kendrick Inaugural Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs on Saturday followed by Sunday’s $70,000 Russell & Helen Foutz Distaff Stakes for older fillies and mares at 6 1/2 furlongs.
With nearly $750,000 in purse money on the line this weekend for horsemen which have entered starters in each of the 30 races being held this weekend, the quality of the races should be strong for both shortliners and thoroughbreds.
The future of SunRay Park and Casino will likely not be a factor following the conclusion of this racing season, but the long term viability for the racino is in jeopardy as track president Paul Blanchard appears ready to move the track and casino operations to Clovis, nearly 400 miles away, likely following the conclusion of the 2027 racing season.
During a public hearing last February, Blanchard said the move was necessary because of the number of casinos near Farmington, causing a saturation of the market which contributed to a 60% decline in revenue at SunRay, which dropped from $10 million in 2011 to $4 million in 2024.
Fans this weekend will likely not notice a sense of the impending future. Instead, many of them will see the usual trappings of a race day including good racing and wagering opportunities.
A total of 101 horses were entered for Friday’s 10-race program, meaning horse players will likely have full fields for each of the races on the opening day of the season, which has a first post time of 1:15 p.m.
Friday’s featured New Mexico Breeders Stakes will be headlined by Eric Valenzuela-trained Woodcutt, seeking his third win in a row after a hard-fought allowance win at Sunland Park on Feb. 28.
Valenzuela is coming off a training title at Sunland Park, where he won 16 races including a score with Bridger in the $389,493 New Mexican Spring Futurity on closing weekend.
The morning line favorite at odds of 7-to-2, Woodcutt will be ridden by Jordy Muniz in the New Mexico Breeders’ Stakes, which will be run as the ninth race on Friday’s card. The pair will break from post five in the nine-horse field with post time scheduled for 4:35 p.m.
Saturday’s 10-race all-thoroughbred program will be highlighted by the $75,000 Kendrick Memorial Stakes at a distance of 6 1/2 furlongs.
Clovisconnection, winner of the Bill Thomas Memorial Stakes at Sunland Park last time out, is the 5-to-2 morning line favorite in the Kendrick Memorial. He has 13 wins from 25 starts with earnings of more than $567,000.
Trained by Justin Evans, coming off a championship season at Sunland Park, will team with jockey Luis Valenzuela. The pair will break from the rail in the eight-horse field.
Trainer Bart Hone will saddle Mickswagger, a three-time winner from six career starts. The Kentucky-bred hasn’t raced since a fourth-place finish in the St. Louis Derby last September at Fairmount Park. Slated to be ridden by Christian Ramos, they will break from post two at odds of 7-to-2 on the morning line.
Sunday’s featured event, the $70,000 Russell and Helen Foutz Distaff Stakes, will feature New Mexico’s all-time leading thoroughbred Corrina Corrina, a 22-time winner from 45 starts with earnings of more than $1.56 million.
One of the main challengers to Corrina Corrina will be Danny Morales-trained First Again, who will be looking for her third win in the Foutz Distaff. A nine-time winner from 31 career starts, First Again won the race in 2024 and again last year, defeating Corrina Corrina in that meeting.
For more information on the opening weekend at SunRay Park and Casino, check out the track’s official page at equibase.com.