Purse Increases

California's Del Mar Thoroughbred Club is set to deliver purses above $25 million for its 31-day summer meet, with the daily average purse payout of more than $800,000 the highest in the history of California racing. Overnight purses and the value of 21 of the seaside oval's stakes will be raised by a blended rate of 15%. Among the most prominent races to see increases are the GI Bing Crosby S. and the GI Clement L. Hirsch S., both of which will climb from $300,000 to $400,000. Gross purses for...

Iowa's Prairie Meadows, which is set to begin its 2022 live racing season Friday, May 13, will see an average 5% increase in purses across the board. The 84 Thoroughbred racing days will be interspersed with Quarter Horse racing, which will see that breed's purses raised by up to 25%. The Thoroughbred purse structure includes a total of 26 stakes worth an estimated $2 million, highlighted by the Iowa Festival of Racing July 8-9. Last year's edition of the $300,000 GIII Prairie Meadows Cornhusker H. during the Festival was won...

Kentucky Downs will increase purses 8% in non-stakes races for the upcoming September meet from what was announced previously in the condition book. Maiden special weights for Kentucky-breds will now have purses of $135,000; first-level allowances are set at $145,800; and second-level allowances at $156,600. The increase applies to every non-stakes race at the meet except the four starter-allowances carrying $100,000 purses as qualifiers for the Claiming Crown later this year at Gulfstream Park. "Not everybody has stakes horses, and Kentucky Downs gives those owners an opportunity to run for...

Santa Anita will increase purses for overnight and stakes races for the upcoming Winter/Spring Meet, which opens Dec. 26. More specifics will be released soon, but maiden special weight races will increase by $6,000 to $67,000; first condition allowances will be upped $6,000 to $69,000; and $25,000 claiming purses will rise by $4,000 to $40,000. The increases are in partnership with the Thoroughbred Owners of California (TOC). "There are now many reasons to be optimistic about 2021 and beyond," said Santa Anita's senior vice president and general manager Nate Newby....

The GI TVG Pacific Classic been raised back to its original purse level of $1 million for its Aug. 21 renewal. Additionally, the GII Del Mar Derby Sept. 4 had its purse increased to $250,000. The TVG Pacific Classic was scheduled to have a purse of $750,000, which was an increase from its COVID-affected 2020 running at $500,000. The Del Mar Derby ran with a $200,000 purse in 2020 and was designated to do so again this year prior to this current boost. "We had fairly aggressive projections going into...

The purse for the 2022 GI Arkansas Derby will be increased to $1.25 million--up from $1 million in 2021--and the race will be contested Saturday, Apr. 2, Oaklawn Park announced Tuesday. The date shift is a departure from the traditional three weeks before the Kentucky Derby and the increased purse makes the race the richest event among Derby preps. In 2022, Oaklawn will offer a record 36 stakes worth $12.3 million. In addition to the Arkansas Derby, three stakes will carry million dollar purses and 15 other stakes will offer...

The New York Racing Association will offer increased purses for its 2021 Saratoga meet, it announced Tuesday. The first online condition book for the meet is now available at www.nyra.com/saratoga/horsemen. Physical copies will be available in the Belmont Park racing office starting Friday. All open stakes with a previously listed purse of $100,000 have been increased to $120,000. Open maiden special weights have been given a $10,000 bump to $100,000, while New York-bred MSWs have gone from $80,000 to $85,000. All other conditions have also been given purse increases. "We...

Officials at Lone Star Park at Grand Prairie have announced that all overnight purses will be raised across the board by 20%, beginning with Friday's live racing program. Purses that ranged from $12,000 for bottom-level claimers to $39,000 for open allowance races will now carry prize money between $14,400 and $46,800. The Thoroughbred meeting at Lone Star Park continues through Sunday, July 11.

Before the first race is run Saturday on Opening Night of its 38-day Spring Meet, Churchill Downs Racetrack announced that purses will be raised an additional $3.1 million thanks to revenue from the historical racing machines at Derby City Gaming. Total purses offered in the first condition book for horsemen, which covers 190 races over 19 dates through Thursday, May 27, have grown to $22,822,100 for a daily average of $1,201,163. That represents a 5.9% increase from the previously published $21,544,000. Maiden special weight races are now worth $115,000 during...

Over the final eight weeks of its 2021 season, Oaklawn will boost purses by 15%, a total of $2.5 million, into overnight races, including increasing top allowance races to $110,000. The across the board increase also takes maiden special weights to $93,000 and raises the bottom purse to $27,000, and represents the largest in-season purse hike in the track's history. "It's been an interesting year to say the least, but it is very gratifying to announce this purse increase nearly a year after shutting the race meet and casino down...

With purses to exceed $700,000 per day and "Ship and Win" incentives to double, the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club is substantially increasing all overnight purses and offering record incentives for its upcoming Summer Meet, which opens Saturday, July 17, and runs through Labor Day, Sept. 6. Among the increases for overnights from last year, maiden special weight races will jump from $55,000 to $70,000, with a number of maiden claiming and open claiming purses also increasing. In addition, purse levels will be raised for several summer stakes races with the...

Sam Houston Race Park announced Sunday that it will raise its overnight purses for the remainder of the 2021 Thoroughbred meet. The increases will go into effect starting Wednesday, Feb. 17 and will continue through closing day, Apr. 3. All main track purses will be increased by $7,000, while turf purses will see a $2,000 bump. The track cited strong handle figures, which are up 40% year over year including a record-setting handle of $5.3 million on the Houston Racing Festival card Jan. 31, as the reason for the changes....