Zia Park’s sister racetrack, Penn National, will also hold its Thanksgiving Eve Racing Festival stakes races on the same night as part of the challenge.
The Zia Park Oaks, Zia Park Derby, Zia Park Championship, and Zia Park Distaff will be the final races in the $5 million Penn Gaming Racing Challenge launched in 2014 by parent company Penn National Gaming. The 2014 Land of Enchantment Day set the second highest single-day handle record at Zia Park of $1.275 million, behind only the inaugural running in 2013. The afternoon will include two Quarter Horse races as well-the 440-yard, $150,000 Grade 1 Zia Park Quarter Horse Championship and the 400-yard, $140,000 Restricted Grade 1 New Mexico Quarter Horse Fillies and Mares Championship. The card will also feature the $200,000 Zia Park Derby for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles, the $150,000 Zia Park Championship for 3-year-olds and up at 1 1/8 miles, the $100,000 (up from $75,000) Zia Park Distaff for fillies and mares at 6 furlongs, the $140,000 Eddy County Stakes for 2-year-old New Mexico breds at one mile and the newly created $100,000 Zia Park Sprint for 3 year olds and up contested at 6 furlongs. The richest event of that afternoon will be the third running of the $300,000 Zia Park Oaks for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles, won by the Larry Jones trained Cassatt in 2014.
Land of Enchantment Day on Thanksgiving Eve will feature eight stakes races worth a total of more than $1.2 million.
