Ruidoso Downs closes after flood damages track, backside

Ruidoso Downs canceled the remainder of its meet after severe flooding damaged the New Mexico track and its backside Tuesday.

“We can’t run at Ruidoso again this year,” track owner Johnny Trotter told Daily Racing Form. “We can’t put it back together.”

The track surface and infield were covered in water, according to DRF and other reports. The single-story jockeys’ room, located on the infield, was flooded briefly to its roof line.

The El Paso Times reported that flood from the river that runs through the track property caused horses to panic and get loose. Jockey Edwin Escobedo was on a pleasure ride with friends when the rain began, according to the El Paso Times report. They got to the track as the flooding began and helped move horses to higher ground.

DRF reported that Trotter is weighing options for the track's $3 million All American Futurity scheduled for Sept. 1, including relocating the meeting or returning nomination fees to owners.

Last year's All American Futurity was held at the Downs at Albuquerque after flood damge, the first time the quarter-horse race was held away from Ruidoso Downs since it began in 1959, DRF reported.

After those floods, $25 million from the federal government and track ownership was spent to address flood control with a new retention system, the El Paso Times reported, and officials hoped that work would be enough to mange future floods.