Hubbard Now Sole Owner of Ruidoso Downs

Ruidoso Downs Racetrack and Casino in New Mexico announced that R.D. Hubbard is now sole owner of the track after purchasing the interests of Dr. Ed Allred and Bruce Rimbo. Previously, Hubbard had a 72% interest in Ruidoso Downs, according to the release.

Shaun Hubbard, who has been the track’s general manager, will now assume the roles of president and general manager.

Hubbard, a prominent Thoroughbred owner and breeder who was president and chief executive officer of Hollywood Park from 1991-99, bought into the New Mexico track in 1988. The track was immediately reconfigured from five-eighths of a mile to the current seven-eighths-mile configuration. A separate 550-yard chute was added for Quarter Horse racing and Ruidoso Downs is still the only track to have a separate track for quarter horse racing, the track said.

Following legalization of casino gaming in New Mexico, Ruidoso opened its Billy the Kid Casino in 1999.

“Ruidoso Downs has been an iconic force in racing and will continue to grow and provide the fans and horsemen the best racing,” Hubbard said in a May 9 statement.

Among the prominent horses campaigned by Hubbard was three-time grade I winner Gentlemen. In 2000, he received the National Thoroughbred Racing Association’s Commissioner’s Cup.

Hubbard was president of Safelite when it became the largest auto-glass replacement company in the U.S. After leaving Safelite in 1978, he formed AFG Industries and built it into a Fortune 500 Company, which he took private in a $1.1 billion buyout in 1988.