Jack Cole Stakes features some of state’s top older thoroughbreds
FARMINGTON — A field of nine older New Mexico-bred thoroughbreds will head to the starting gate Saturday at SunRay Park and Casino for the $75,000 Jack Cole Stakes, the featured event of a 10-race card.
Corrina Corrina, the state’s all-time leading money-earning thoroughbred with more than $1.6 million in her bankroll, will compete against the boys in the Cole Stakes, the ninth race on the program, run at 6 1/2 furlongs.
A winner last time out in the Russell and Helen Foutz Distaff Stakes here on April 12, Corrina Corrina is also the all-time leader for wins among state-bred thoroughbreds, having reached the winners circle 23 times from 46 starts. She has never finished worse than third in seven starts at SunRay Park, with stakes victories in the 2022 Dine Stakes and the 2024 San Juan County Commissioners Stakes.
This will be Corrina Corrina’s fifth start this year, having finished second in each of her three previous starts at Sunland Park before the victory in the Foutz Distaff. The 7-year-old Mr. Trieste mare is trained by Gary Cross for owner Derrick Jenkins and will be ridden once again by Tracy Hebert.
Listed as the 2-to-1 morning line favorite, Corrina Corrina will break from the outside post in the nine-horse field in the Cole, which has a scheduled post time of 4:35 p.m.
Leroy Fincher-trained Marking Canyon, who beat Corrina Corrina on April 5 in the New Mexico State University Stakes at Sunland Park, is the 3-to-1 second choice in the Jack Cole with Aldo Arboleda slated to be aboard the son of Marking.
Owned by Leroy and Maureen Fincher, Marking Canyon has eight wins from 25 starts and earnings topping $530,000. He has won two stakes races this year, including a victory in the Albert and Henry Dominguez Memorial Stakes at Sunland Park on March 8.
Marking Canyon will break from post six in the Jack Cole Stakes.
Adding more intrigue to the race is Mojica, owned and bred by Don Apodaca and trained by Filiberto Quiroz.
Mojica has won six times from 11 starts, including a win over Marking Canyon earlier this year in the Jamison Memorial Stakes at Sunland Park. The son of Marking was a close second in the Mt. Cristo Rey Stakes at Sunland Park on March 22. Last year, he won his only race over the SunRay course when he scored a win in the Kendrick Memorial Stakes.
The 9-to-2 third choice on the morning line, Mojica (pictured above) will be ridden by Jose Vazquez and will break from post seven.
The field, with morning line odds and riders, for Saturday’s $75,000 Jack Ciole Stakes:
1 SHORT ROUND BOUND (8-1) Luis Valenzuela
2 PROBATE (15-1) Francisco Amparan
3 MY PEACHES Q (20-1) Alejandro Medellin
4 LEAVE THEM BEHIND (6-1) Enrique Gomez
5 ANTONIOS MARK (12-1) Oscar Andrade, Jr.
6 MARKING CANYON (3-1) Aldo Arboleda
7 MOJICA (9/2) Jose Vazquez
8 GHOSTLY CHANCE (12-1) Miguel Perez 9 CORRINA CORRINA (2-1) Tracy Hebert