Horse racing fans and Ruidoso visitors have wondered what comes next for the race track, but not many are asking who gets to make that call.
Following the Ruidoso Downs Race Track and Casino’s announcement of moving core events to Texas, a flurry of discussion online still revolves around possible uses for the track going forward. How the track and the land it sits on are owned will have a big impact on the location’s possible future.
The ownership of the race track and it’s property is divided between four entities: the Miller trust, the Ruidoso Jockey Club, the Village of Ruidoso and Johnny and Jana Trotter.
These four groups exert influence on how different facets of the establishment and property are used going into the future.
However, the final say on the track’s racing future rests with the New Mexico Racing Commission.
The commission is responsible for operating horse racing across the state, as well as determining the race dates for each track and providing the relevant licenses.
The racing commission has not yet moved the entire 2027 Ruidoso Downs race season away from the downs. However, the needed repairs to the track and property make racing in 2027 at the downs unfeasible, according to those familiar with the track.
In a press release from early September, race track general manager Rick Baugh announced the Triple Crown Series, the All-American Super Select Sale and the Ruidoso Downs Hall of Fame will be moving to Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas, in 2027.
The move came after the 2024 and 2025 racing seasons were interrupted by floods and the entire 2026 Ruidoso Downs racing season was held in Albuquerque.
Decisions on the race track’s future are still being made and at the time of reporting have not been announced publicly.
Who owns the pie?
Johnny and Jana Trotter are the current owners of the Ruidoso Downs Race Track and Casino, meaning they hold the tracks current racing license. In addition to the license, the Trotters own the viewing grandstands, the east side of the clubhouse, called the Turf Club, restaurants connected to the casino and Turf Club, the simulcast and the buildings used for horse sales and storage.
The Trotters have the power to sell the track and it’s license to an interested party who could take over the operations.
The Ruidoso Jockey Club owns the west side of the clubhouse, located on the second floor of the grandstands. Club members buy a table as their share in the club, granting them partial ownership of the space. The club is managed by its elected board of directors and general manager and Village of Ruidoso Mayor Lynn Crawford.
The Ruidoso Jockey Club declined to comment on their membership numbers and the average table price when contacted by the Ruidoso News. However, a table for four in the Jockey Club has been known to command a $75,000 price tag.
The Village of Ruidoso owns a 29-acre strip of land down the middle of the track that constitutes the Rio Ruidoso. The ownership of the land was given to the village by the Miller trust in 2025 so state and federal recovery work could be done on the river in the area. In order for the work to be done, the river needed to sit on public land.
The recovery work was later undone the same year by devastating flooding.
The Miller trust owns the approximate 132 acres of land the track sits on and leases it to the current owners. The Miller family owned the land when it was still a corn field in the early 1900s and the first ideas of the track were just being planted.
Any alternate use of the property by a new leaser in the future would have to be approved by the Miller trust.
The track faces a hurdle to it’s future use with a damaged culvert at the entrance. Originally put in by the state as a part of flooding repairs done in 2025, the culvert was damaged in subsequent floods the same year. The New Mexico Department of Transportation recommended closing the track’s main entrance in July due to the damage and the track obliged.
