Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Coronado Partners’ efforts to prod the New Mexico Racing Commission to issue a license for a horse-racing track and casino in Tucumcari aren’t dead yet.
Warren Frost, a Logan attorney and principal of Coronado Partners, on Aug. 23 filed a notice to appeal an Albuquerque district judge’s recent ruling in favor of the racing commission.
The appeal will be heard by the New Mexico Court of Appeals. No date for the hearing has been set.
Frost declined to comment when contacted by email last week.
District Judge Nancy Franchini in early August ruled the New Mexico Legislature ultimately authorized the racing commission to grant or reject licenses for racetracks.
Coronado is proposing a horse-racing track and casino on Tucumcari’s east side, just off Route 66, that would employ at least 500 people and generate up to $55 million in revenue by 2025.
Coronado’s lawsuit, filed in late 2021, sought to prod the racing commission to make a decision on its Tucumcari racetrack application. Coronado had filed an updated application that year.
The commission, after its reorganization in 2020, had refused to make a decision on a sixth license after the previous commission held months of public hearings on the matter in 2018. Other applicants for the license were from Clovis and Lordsburg.
The previous commission was scheduled to make a decision on the sixth license in late 2018, but a restraining order filed by the Lordsburg applicant halted that.
The reorganized commission then refused to issue a sixth license, citing the fragility of the horse-racing industry in New Mexico and nationwide and increased competition at casinos.
Frost disputed that, saying there was no evidence or testimony presented at any of the hearings about either industry.
Franchini in June 2022 granted Coronado’s request for a writ of mandamus against the commission regarding the Tucumcari application. A writ of mandamus compels another entity to perform its official duties.