New Mexico Breeders Stakes kicks off SunRay season
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.
With nearly $750,000 in purse money on the line this weekend for horsemen who have entered starters in each of the 30 races, 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. Track president Paul Blanchard appears ready to move the track and casino operations to Clovis, nearly 400 miles away, likely after the 2027 racing season concludes.
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 race 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.
Bred in New Mexico by MJ Farms and owned by Homero Hermilo Campa-Mireles, Woodcutt was a $58,000 purchase at the 2024 Ruidoso New Mexico Bred QH Yearling Sale.
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.
Trainer Wes Giles will send out morning-line second choice The Ghan, coming off a fourth-place finish in the Shue Fly Stakes last time out. Owned by All In Partners and bred in New Mexico by Bobby & Catherine Simmons, The Ghan was purchased for $45,000 at the 2024 Ruidoso Select Yearling Sale and is still looking for his first win after seven career starts. The son of Big Daddy Cartel will break from post six in the NM Breeders Stakes with Noe Garcia, Jr. scheduled to ride.
The field for the $70,000 New Mexico Breeders Stakes, with morning line odds and riders:
1 HM KINGVALLEY (9/2) Alfredo Sigala
2 LOUIE CARTEL (5-1) Jorge Nieto-Saenz
3 HM BIGDAD RELENTLESS (10-1) Jesse Levario
4 LUCKY LODI (9/2) Luis Valenzuela
5 WOODCUTT (7/2) Jordy Muniz
6 THE GHAN (4-1) Noe Garcia, Jr.
7 JESS A MOON GIRL (9/2) Gabriel Medrano
8 ANGELS IN THE CLOUDS (12-1) Brian Barraza 9 JESS FIRE UP DOC (15-1) Jose Enriquez