Racing commission to meet on Thursday

The New Mexico Racing Commission — minus one commissioner fired last week — will reconvene Thursday to hold its first regular meeting in more than two months, including discussing the possibility of awarding a sixth license.

The commission emailed a lengthy meeting agenda Monday morning that included a closed session to discuss a sixth license and nearly a dozen other items, plus an item about a sixth license among 23 others in new business.

The meeting will begin with a closed session at 8:30 a.m. Thursday and an open session at 10:30 a.m. at the commission’s office at 4900 Alameda Blvd. NE in Albuquerque. It also scheduled a lunch break from noon to 1:15 p.m.

Coronado Partners is seeking a sixth license to build an $80 million racetrack and casino on Tucumcari’s east side. It is competing against three applicants from Clovis and one from Lordsburg.

The commission abruptly canceled several meetings scheduled in June “until further notice,” then went nearly all of July with no meetings before setting a race-dates committee session for Wednesday. The commission hadn’t sat down for a regular meeting since May 16.

Commission Executive Director Ismael “Izzy” Trejo declined over the weekend to give a reason for the delay between meetings or whether there had been discord among commissioners.

Warren Frost, one of the principals for Coronado Partners, said by phone Monday morning the long delay on a sixth-license decision has not affected the team it’s assembled last year for the racino development.

“We’re in the same position as we were, and we’re ready to go,” he said. “The only problem we’ve had is the racing commission has been in such turmoil after that first meeting. We’ve been waiting for them to get organized and get their feet on the ground before we start hitting them up.”

Despite the commission’s setbacks, Frost said he remained optimistic about Tucumcari’s chances of landing the sixth license.

“I think there’s been a lot of activity that’s been going on behind the scenes, and I’m more optimistic than I’ve been in quite a while,” he said.

The Associated Press on Friday confirmed Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham had fired commissioner Freda McSwane after she refused a request to resign. The AP had acquired documents that indicated the state’s attorneys were concerned with comments McSwane made during the commission’s May meeting about changes in the way racehorses were being tested for certain medications.

McSwane was appointed to the commission with four other people in April shortly after the governor fired the previous commission. Ken Corazza, who served on the previous commission, took McSwane’s place after her dismissal.

Frost declined to comment about McSwane’s firing. He said a few weeks after the new commission was appointed he didn’t know any of them except for McSwane, who he’d encountered occasionally because she too is a lawyer.

“I wouldn’t consider myself friends with her,” Frost said at the time.