The new millionaire Corrina Corrina and the near-millionaire Thunder Dome can both hit significant milestones in New Mexico Cup stakes Monday at Zia Park.
Corrina Corrina would move into second place on the all-time earnings list among New Mexico-bred Thoroughbreds with a win in the $150,000 Distaff and Thunder Dome has a chance to reach $1 million in earnings as he chases after a fourth win in the $200,000 Rocky Gulch Classic.
The races are among the card’s seven stakes for New Mexico-breds, with total purses of $1.1 million. The card also includes divisional stakes for 2-year-olds and 3-year-olds.
The six-furlong Distaff should see Corrina Corrina as an odds-on favorite in a field of eight. The daughter of Mr. Trieste dominated the Carlos Salazar over some of these in her last start Sept. 22 at the Downs at Albuquerque to became the third New Mexico-bred Thoroughbred to reach $1 million in earnings.
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“She’s kind of proud of herself, and I’m proud of her too,” said Gary Cross, the 83-year-old who trains Corrina Corrina for her breeder, Derrick Jenkins. “I trained her daddy – that’s what makes her special to me. It’s all in house, because I had her daddy. He did me a lot of good. He made $500,000 around here.”
Mr. Trieste’s list of nine stakes wins includes two runnings of the San Juan County Commissioners Handicap, a three-turn race at SunRay Park. Corrina Corrina, who on multiple occasions has defeated male rivals, won the 1 1/8-mile race in May. Cross intended to keep her routing in the Peppers Pride on Monday, but the two-turn race she’s won the last two years did not fill and she remains at one turn for the Distaff.
“Her sire, he could run short and long, both,” Cross said.
Cross said he tested Corrina Corrina against open company stakes rivals early in her career and when she ran a good third to a pair of well-regarded invaders, he felt he had a promising runner. She’s now a 5-year-old and has compiled a record of 15 wins from 30 starts for earnings of $1,008,560.
A win Monday would be worth about $90,000 and it would move Corrina Corrina to second on the earnings list, surpassing Peppers Pride ($1,066,085) and moving closer to leader Rocky Gulch ($1,151,725), according to records from the New Mexico Horse Breeders Association.
“I don’t keep up with it, I just take care of her,” quipped Cross, who has a 22-horse stable at Zia.
Tracy Hebert has the mount from post 6.
Rocky Gulch Classic
Thunder Dome is making his seventh consecutive appearance in the Rocky Gulch Classic at 1 1/16 miles, which drew a field of 12.
Thunder Dome first won the state’s premier race for New Mexico-breds in 2018. He added wins in 2020 and 2022 in a record that has helped push his earnings to $965,157. A first- or second-place finish Monday should push him over $1 million in earnings.
“He’s just so consistent – he runs in the top three pretty much every time,” said Dallas Barton, who has trained Thunder Dome since he debuted in 2016. “That’s what I like to see as a trainer. I want to see consistency. He runs hard every time.
“He’s an older horse now, 10-years-old coming up on 11, and he might have lost a step or two, but I think he still can compete with this group, with New Mexico-breds at the top level.”
Thunder Dome has already proven that this year, finishing second in the $100,000 New Mexico University Handicap behind Let Him Be, who is set to start as a strong favorite in the $150,000 Sprint. Thunder Dome took his annual summer vacation after the race, and in his first start back Oct. 12 was a sharp winner of an allowance sprint at Albuquerque.
“He loves to be at the track,” Barton said. “You’d think he was a 3-year-old. He comes out of that stall squealing and pawing and when you leg the rider up he plays for about the first 200 yards when they’re walking off.”
Barton feels moving back to two turns is a benefit for the versatile Thunder Dome. Luis Fuentes has the mount from post 9 for Bill Carson.
New Mexico Sprint
Let Him Be brings a 9-for-11 record into the six-furlong Sprint. The son of Sway Away enters off an allowance win at the distance at Zia. Let Him Be rolled home by six lengths to earn a Beyer Speed Figure of 84.
“I liked the way he finished, made a big move down the lane,” trainer Joel Marr said. “He’s been really good to us. He just tries every time. He’s obviously very talented, runs short or long, it doesn’t matter.”
Miguel Fuentes Jr. has the mount from post 6.
“There will obviously be some speed in the race,” Marr said. “I just hope we stay close to the leaders and get a good trip and when we’re ready to go, he’s got a place to go.”
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