For 62 years, Ruidoso Downs Race Track has been a fixture in the community, bringing tourists and their dollars into the local economy. Its impact is immeasurable on local hotels, restaurants and retailers - and on the area’s psyche.

The future of the track, however, is uncertain. R.D. Hubbard, who leases the track from the Fountain Miller family, says that under certain circumstances, he could envision moving the operation elsewhere.

“We’re looking at alternatives and other locations,” he acknowledged in a recent exclusive interview. “We hope that’s not necessary in the end.”

Organized racing began at Hollywood Park, as it was then known, in 1947. The complex was renamed Ruidoso Downs in 1953. The world-famous All American Futurity, known previously under other titles, was instituted in 1959. The futurity, with its large purse, gave the track, and the Ruidoso area, a horseracing identity.

Ten years later, a small-town Kansan, R.D. Hubbard, visited the track for the first time with his wife, Joan Dale.

“Ruidoso Downs Race Track was one of the first places my wife and I visited together,” Hubbard said. “We came to see the All American Futurity, and that’s why I’ve always been fond of this area.”

In the mid-to-late ’80s, the racetrack suffered some financial hardships. In August 1988, Hubbard purchased the struggling enterprise for $2.6 million and assumed debts of $9 million.

The longtime businessman was a risk-taker who was no stranger to rescuing struggling enterprises.

He had previously taken over a debt-ridden, floundering glass company in 1978, and proceeded to build it into the second-largest glass producer in North America with annual sales of $700 million. After making American Federated Glass (AFG) into a Fortune 500 company, he sold it in 1992.

Hubbard sunk another $2.5 million into renovating Ruidoso Downs. A year later, the amount wagered through the track’s betting windows was up to $38,630,272 - third highest in the track’s history.

“There’s no doubt in my mind R.D. Hubbard saved Ruidoso Downs Race Track,” Senior writer for the AQHA Magazine, Richard Chamberlain, said.

But not every year showed a profit. Over the next two decades, Hubbard says, his operation lost $22 million.

Beginning with his initial purchase of the track, Hubbard lobbied to have slot machine gambling legalized on track grounds. State approval of the Billy the Kid Casino took 10 years, but, Hubbard says, the casino’s existence dramatically improved the horseracing end of the operation.

But there was competition.

The Inn of the Mountain Gods had been a fixture for slot machine gaming in the region. In 2003, the Inn introduced slots at Casino Apache Travel Center on U.S. 70 West, just miles from Ruidoso Downs. According to Hubbard, slot machine revenues from the track dropped by 50 percent.

In February 2008, a bill (HB484) introduced in the state House of Representatives attempted to close the gap on the percentage of profits that Indian and non-Indian casinos could keep. Originally called the New Gaming Tax on Certain Race Tracks, it would have lowered the gaming tax on certain racetracks, including Ruidoso Downs, from 26 percent of the net take to 10 percent of the net provided that the total net take was under $14 million.

The bill passed overwhelmingly on the floor of the New Mexico House of Representatives. A Senate version subsequently died.

Hubbard was counting on that tax relief. An attempt to reintroduce similar legislation could resurface in the 2009 legislature.

“The village needs to do everything it can to keep the race track in Ruidoso Downs and operating profitably,” said Ruidoso Mayor L. Ray Nunley. “And part of that profitability is a level playing ground on the issue of taxes.

“I think the Mescalero Apache Tribe is a really good neighbor, but the race track needs to be on a par with what they pay (on the casino side). R.D. Hubbard has fought hard and I’m sure the issue will come up in the next session of the state Legislature. Anyone who reads this with influence needs to call them (legislators) and tell them we need that race track here.”

During racing season, the casino and track employ 450 workers, most of whom live, rent or maintain real estate in the track area and surrounding communities.

Even in the off-season, Ruidoso Downs Race Track and Billy the Kid Casino retain a staff of 180 jobholders.

According to the New Mexico Business Journal, more than 40 percent of the workforce in Ruidoso is directly or indirectly connected to the fortunes of the track and casino.
Last year, 242,000 visitors passed through the casino and track. More than 80 percent of those visitors were from out of state.

Both the casino and the track, which are located on leased land in Ruidoso Downs off U.S. 70 East, comprise a 240-acre tax base, which contributes to local and state governments.

Should the track and casino close down - headed for more accommodating pastures - business and political leaders feel that the effects could harm a segment of retailers, restaurants, hotels and others who rely on the steady influx of track visitors.

“The effect would be devastating,” Nunley said. “The racetrack is the major part of our economy. Even though we have more diversity that a few years ago, it is a big draw. Not everyone comes here for the races, but the majority do.”

The workers who move into the area for the racing season also spell big bucks for local businesses, Nunley said.

“They come from other places and their employment stimulates our economy and many businesses associated with the race track,” the mayor said.

Ruidoso Downs Mayor Tom Armstrong says he’s played the “what-if” game before, and he echoes Nunley’s sentiment. “If the track were to leave, it would be devastating to the Ruidoso Downs area,” he said, “particularly to real estate and retailers.”

Armstrong said many summer homes in the Downs are occupied by people associated with the racetrack.

As for Ruidoso, the Downs mayor added, “Midtown would look bare.”

“The track and casino are very crucial to the economic well-being of Ruidoso,” Brad Treptow, former executive director of the Ruidoso Chamber of Commerce, said. “If they were to leave, the economic impact would be substantial.”

Other business people in the area echo Treptow’s sentiments.

“Not having the racetrack in Ruidoso would be like not having snow here in the winter,” Texas Club Managing Partner Cliff Herring said. “The track is consequential to the summer economy of the village and therefore necessary for all the merchants and restaurants. Not all of our customers come from the track, but many do.”

Because New Mexico-bred horses have increased in stature throughout the Southwest the track could probably survive if Hubbard left, but it would be a blow, AQHA’s Richard Chamberlain says.

“The Ruidoso Downs track has a rich history that goes back more than six decades. Its significance to the vitality of the community is appreciated by many, I’m sure. Just the mystique alone of the track and the $2 million All American Futurity that is raced there brings a rich heritage to the Ruidoso area that is immeasurable. For that to be gone would be unthinkable.”
(Source: El Paso Times)