Sunland Park Oaks
The Sunland Park Oaks is an American Thoroughbred horse race open to three-year-old fillies and mares racing one mile on the dirt. The Oaks, an ungraded stakes event, is currently held in February at Sunland Park Racetrack & Casino in New Mexico.
Once sponsored by WinStar Farm in Kentucky where Distorted Humor and Tiznow stand, the race offers a purse of $250,000. Begun as a one and one sixteenth mile race, then taken down to a mile, it went back to a one and one-sixteenth mile and in 2024 returned again to one mile.
Since 2013, the Oaks has been part of the Road to the Kentucky Oaks, a series of races through which fillies qualify for the Kentucky Oaks. As of 2024, the Sunland Park Oaks offers Kentucky Oaks qualifying points of 20-10-6-4-2 to the respective top five finishers.
The race was not run in 2016 due to an outbreak of equine herpesvirus. The race was not run in 2020 or 2021 due to the worldwide pandemic.
National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame jockey Jerry Bailey and Mike E. Smith, as well as jockeys Patrick Valenzuela and Cash Asmussen, all began their careers at Sunland Park.
Records
Speed record:- 1:41.06 @ 1 1/16 miles: Midnight Lucky
- 4 - Victor Espinoza
- 8 - Bob Baffert
- 2 - Karl Watson, Paul Weitman
- 2 - Peachtree Stable
- 2 - Chris G. Coleman