Crews continue their diligent work at Ruidoso Downs this week.

© Courtesy Vicki Wiggins

RUIDOSO DOWNS, NM–JULY 10, 2024–Despite more rainfall and flash flooding this week, Ruidoso Downs plans to race as scheduled on Friday. Crews are working around the clock repairing a section of the track surface impacted by a storm in the area on Tuesday.

Additional flooding continued today (Wednesday).

"Yesterday afternoon, we received another flood again from the burn scars, and we handled it as well as one could expect for the volume of water that we received,” Rick Baugh, general manager of Ruidoso Downs, told Mary Rampellini of DailyRacingForm.com. "We’re expecting another flood event any minute. We’re ready for that one, but hopefully, after that, we can start putting the track back together and be ready for racing this weekend."

The area impacted this week, the middle of the clubhouse turn, is the same area impacted by previous flooding.

"The Rio Ruidoso [river] runs through the center of the infield, and that’s what’s causing the flooding due to the debris and burn scar from the Salt fire and the South Fork fire," Baugh said.

Baugh expects the track to open for training on Friday morning. The first post for Friday’s card is 12:30 p.m. (MDT).

Hezgothelook Z, winner of the Ruidoso Futurity(G1) last month, will be looking to win the Rainbow Futurity(G1) on Sunday, the second leg of the track’s Triple Crown series of rich 2-year-old stakes for Quarter Horses that concludes with the All American Futurity on Labor Day.

The Ruidoso Downs meet runs through Sept. 2.