SUNLAND PARK – Last week’s winter weather wreaked havoc on the racing surface at Sunland Park Racetrack and Casino, forcing the postponement of the $350,000 Championship at Sunland Park and a pair of stakes races originally scheduled for Saturday.
A massive winter storm that brought rain, snow, and plummeting temperatures across the country was particularly damaging to the track, which has canceled five racing programs since Saturday, Jan. 24. The storm halted the live program one day earlier after a mix of rain and snow pelted the area.
The Championship at Sunland Park, a marquee quarter horse race near El Paso, Texas, has been tentatively rescheduled for Saturday, Feb. 7. The Shue Fly Stakes and the Lonnie and Candy Elam Memorial Stakes have also been moved to that day, according to Dustin Dix, director of racing operations.
“Our trackman has been getting a lot of work done these last couple days,” Dix said. “Right now, we’re putting the finishing touches on it and we’ll see what he says.”
The track has been closed to both racing and training for a week while crews repaired the surface, which suffered from water seepage deep into the course.
The storm arrived during live racing on Friday, Jan. 23. Only four races were completed that afternoon before officials canceled the program.
“It was one of those slow, steady rains that’s bad for racetracks, and it happened while we were in the middle of racing,” Dix said. “Then there was more rain and snow on top of it.”
Drying a racetrack requires repeated processing to remove excess water from the surface, which typically consists of dirt, sand, clay, silt, or wax-coated synthetic material.
“It’s a whole process of squeezing down the water and letting it up to dry,” Dix said. “It’s affecting more of the inside part of the track and the turns right now.”
Since the stoppage, 50 quarter horse and thoroughbred races have been canceled or postponed. The three stakes races postponed last weekend represent nearly $600,000 in purse money.
Training was scheduled to resume Saturday morning before officials made a determination regarding programs for Sunday and Monday. Sunday’s nine-race program was headlined by the $80,000 La Coneja Stakes for older New Mexico-bred fillies and mares. “We need to get horses back on the track before we can make that call,” Dix said. “We can have people walk over it and give their opinion, but until we have riders get out on it, we don’t really know.”