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A dazzling Derby: Elevated status draws record crowd to racetrack

By Bret Bloomquist \ El Paso Times
03/28/2011

SUNLAND PARK -- Jon and Maureen Johnson met at a racetrack in California 32 years ago. The Phoenix couple has been to the Kentucky Derby five times and every spring they take a road trip to watch horses run throughout the country. Last year, it was Santa Anita in California, but this year they decided to drive the opposite direction on Interstate 10. They wanted to catch the Grade III Sunland Derby and they joined the record crowd of 18,571 that saw the ninth running of the race at Sunland Park Racetrack & Casino.

"After Mine That Bird won the Kentucky Derby two years ago, we decided we needed to see Sunland Park," Maureen said. "This year was the year. It's nice out here. It's not too far to drive and everyone has been so nice to us.

"We really like this track and El Paso was so much nicer than we thought it would be. We'll come back someday."

They bet on Sinai in the Derby, but left a few dollars poorer after 25-to-1 longshot Twice the Appeal pulled one of the race's biggest-ever upsets.

How big of an upset was it? After the race, one of the horse's three owners, Rusty Brown, was asked how he came to acquire Twice the Appeal.

"Hey Jeff," Brown asked trainer Jeff Bonde. "How'd we get that horse?". What he did know is that his horse was now qualified for the Kentucky Derby in May.

Last year marked the first time the race was graded, and while the crowd for the 2011 edition ended up being almost exactly the same as last year's race (officially there were seven fewer people than last year), the fans showed they had learned from 2010.

"I made sure to get here early," said Stephen Garcia, who arrived at noon -- six hours before the Sunland Derby competitors left the gates. "I wanted a spot on the rail."

This year's crowd did arrive much earlier, as the line of cars queuing up to come into the front entrance peaked around 3 p.m., a good two hours sooner than it did last year. That meant a bunch of betting on the 11 races that preceded the Derby, though El Paso's Juan Cerillo wasn't doing too well on it. He took his 7-year-old son Juan Jr. to his first horse race, and the father ran into some bad timing on when to take his son's advice.

"He wanted me to bet on that horse Booger," Cerillo said of the fourth-race entry Booger Boo. "I said no way. You bet on fast horses."

Booger Boo won.

"I told him I'd bet on whoever he told me to in the next race," Cerillo continued. "So I bet on Skipper (Skipper Do in the fifth race) and it lost."

Roberto Mandujano, though, got a tip in the day's second biggest race, the Sunland Park Oaks, and put $5 to win on the Bob Baffert-trained Plum Pretty. Evidently other people had that same tip, as she went off at 1-9 and paid Mandujano a 20-cent profit.

"I won't spend it in one place," he joked.

What was a party atmosphere, though, took a pause before the sixth race, the Mark A. Villa Memorial. One of the most popular jockeys in New Mexico, Villa was killed last year after a fall at Zia Park. After Mi Domscat charged to victory in the race, the entire stable of Sunland Park jockeys gathered in the winners circle to pose for a picture with Villa's wife, Krystal, 6-year-old twin children Olivia and Garrett, and a number of other members of Villa's family.

Legendary jockey Pat Day, who began his career at Sunland Park, then delivered a eulogy.

When asked what the moment meant to her and her family, Krystal Villa choked back tears and said, "Everything. I love my husband dearly and I never get tired of honoring him. (The horse-racing community) is amazing. I don't know if I could have gotten through this without them.

"Harold Payne (the track general manager) has been so great."

That was the most poignant moment in a day of celebration.

Bret Bloomquist may be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; 546-6359.

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