Sunland Park announces opening weekend starts on January 2, 2026

© Coady Media

By Leann Noguera, StallioneSearch

SUNLAND, NM—DECEMBER 12, 2025—The 66th season of live racing at Sunland Park Racetrack and Casino opens in 3 weeks on Friday, January 2, 2026.

Post time during the 55-day season will be 12:25 p.m. MTN each day with racing being held four days a week on a Friday through Monday schedule. Friday and Saturday cards will feature quarter horse racing with thoroughbred racing held on Sunday and Monday. The live racing continues through Sunday, April 5, 2026.

Opening weekend action will be headlined by two thoroughbred stakes races on Sunday, January 4. The $80,000 New Mexico State Racing Commission Stakes as well as the $65,000 KLAQ Stakes are the featured events on that program.

Loaded with rich stakes races, Sunland Park offers some of the most attractive races for Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses in the Southwest. The calendar features 38 stakes attractive races worth purses of more than $4.2 million.

The sparkling jewel of the lucrative season is the 21st running of the $500,000 Sunland Derby, scheduled to be run Sunday, February 15, 2026. The Kentucky Derby prep race offers 20 qualifying points to the winner for entry to the 2026 Run for the Roses.

The 1 and 1/16 mile event anchors a huge day of racing with six stakes races worth over $1.1 million in purse money. The $250,000 Sunland Park Oaks, as well as the $100,000 Bill Thomas Memorial Stakes, the $100,000 Harry W. Henson Stakes, the $100,000 Peppers Pride Stakes and the $100,000 Red Hedeman Mile are also part of Sunland Park’s biggest day.

Jockey Juan Hernandez and Bob Baffert-trained Getaway Car proved narrowly best over Caldera in last year’s most thrilling running of the Sunland Derby in front of more than 14,000 fans. For Baffert, it marked his fourth win in the Sunland Derby, along with Chitu (2014), Govenor Charlie (2013) and Wanna Runner (2006).

A son of Curlin, Getaway Car finished fourth in the Virginia Derby in his next start before being sidelined. The three-time winner is currently back in training in Southern California.

Thorougbred training wizard Todd Fincher will be absolutely loaded with great horses for stakes and overnight races. Defending champion trainer Dick Cappellucci will also be back with a strong barn.

Both the Sunland Derby and Sunland Park Oaks will be Lasix-free events. Additionally, all thoroughbred stakes races will be Lasix-free.

State-bred thoroughbreds will be in the spotlight when Sunland Park presents the $130,000 New Mexico Breeders’ Derby and $130,000 New Mexico Breeders’ Oaks will be run Sunday, March 29.

Among the top races for Quarter Horses this season are the 24th running of the $350,000 Championship at Sunland Park (Gr. III), which will be run on Saturday, January 31. The world’s best quarter horses will collide in the 440-yard featured event.

Jockey Christian Ramos guided Shakers No Secret to his second career Grade 1 victory in winning last year’s Championship at Sunland Park for trainer Mark Jungers. Shakers No Secret would go on to finish second in three additional Grade 1 stakes races through the rest of the year.

The $150,000-added New Mexican Spring Futurity and $100,000-added Grade II West Texas Futurity for two-year-old quarter Horses will be showcased on Saturday, April 4 as part of an enormous program which also features the $80,000 New Mexico Horse Breeders Association Quarter Horse Stakes, a restricted Grade II event.

Some of the region’s top 3-year-olds will compete in the $100,000 Riley Allison Derby at one mile on Sunday, January 18 in a prep race for the Sunland Derby. The $65,000 Borderplex Stakes is also scheduled that same day, featuring 3-year-old fillies in a prep for the Sunland Park Oaks.

A trio of lucrative thoroughbred stakes races headline a stellar closing day program. The $80,000 New Mexico State University Stakes and the $125,000 Mine That Bird Derby are followed by the 65th running of the $200,000 Casa Ford Sunland Park Stakes at 9 furlongs on Sunday, April 5.

Last year, jockey Harry Hernandez scored a dominating 8-length victory aboard Heroic Move in the traditional closing day headliner. He remains in sizzling form.

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