Ruidoso Downs chaplain establishes fund to help family of jockey killed at Zia Park

Fund established for jockey killed at NM track

HOBBS, N.M. — The chaplain’s office at Ruidoso Downs has established a memorial fund to benefit the family of jockey Mark Villa, who died in a weekend accident at Zia Park.

The 44-year-old Villa is survived by his 33-year-old wife, Krystal, and 6-year-old twins Olivia and Garrett.

Villa died Saturday after his horse, Separate Money, fell in the seventh race. Villa was crawling to the rail when a trailing horse struck him in the back of the head. He was pronounced dead at a hospital.

It was the first jockey fatality at Zia Park since it opened in 2005.

Villa, a veteran New Mexico jockey, won 1,726 races during a career that began in 1983, including the 2009 Ruidoso Derby aboard Time For A Cigar.