Arqana Series Prize-Money For Juvenile Races Rises to €1.5M

Over 300 colts and fillies have been nominated to the first edition of the four-race juvenile Arqana Series, and those fees plus Arqana's €500,000 contribution have increased the total prize-money for the races reserved for Thoroughbreds born in 2021 from €1.2 million to €1.5 million.

A total of €1.36 million will be distributed to the owners and €140,000 will be allocated to the vendors of the winning horses. Prize-money will be dispersed from first to fifth place. The four races will be held on Aug. 17–the €200,000 Arqana Series des Poulains, the €200,000 Arqana Series des Pouliches, and the €320,000 Arqana Series Summer Criterium–and Sept. 30, the 2-year-old finale–the €320,000 Arqana Series Criterium d'Automne.

In 2024, the first edition of the €320,000 Arqana Series for 3 Years, a 2000-metre conditions race for 3-year-olds, will be conducted for the first time that August. For more information on the series and the purse distributions, please click here.

The post Arqana Series Prize-Money For Juvenile Races Rises to €1.5M appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Santa Anita Boosts Closing Day Stakes Purses

California's Santa Anita Park has boosted purses for the Fasig-Tipton Debutante and the Fasig-Tipton Futurity, both 2-year-old stakes scheduled to run Sunday, June 20, which is also closing day. Each will have purses of $100,000, an increase from their original purses of $75,000.

Both black-type events are slated to run over five furlongs on the dirt and will be forerunners to Fasig-Tipton's 2-year-olds in training sale at Santa Anita, which will be held June 23. An under-tack preview is scheduled for June 21.

“We've boosted the purses on both of these races to $100,000 because we want to continue to provide tangible incentives for those owners and horsemen that are investing in our future,” said Chris Merz, Santa Anita's director of racing and racing secretary. “We'll have all of these sales horses on the grounds here during our final week of the meet and this is going to attract a great deal of interest.”

The post Santa Anita Boosts Closing Day Stakes Purses appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

California ADW Agreement Set to Boost Purses by $15 Million

With many wheels of California’s daily industry operations greased through wagering made at bricks and mortar venues, a pandemic-driven wholesale betting shift towards ADW platforms has thrown a sizeable wrench into the works, prompting something of a fiscal scramble to readjust.

Just last week, the Southern California Stabling & Vanning Racing Committee announced a set of stop-gap funding measures to grapple with a $2-million deficit and maintain the stabling status-quo in the southern portion of the state during 2021.

On Wednesday, the Thoroughbred Owners of California (“TOC”) announced a new “purse enhancement” program with TVG, Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, and The Stronach Group’s 1/ST Racing to inject up to $15 million into California Thoroughbred purses in 2021 and 2022.

“California racing has always been very important to TVG, and we are committed to continuing our support of the racing industry here, especially given the challenging circumstances the industry faced in 2020,” said TVG CEO Kip Levin, in the press release. “We feel the right strategy is to partner with the stakeholders to further strengthen what has always been a premier racing circuit in the United States.”

In October, the TDN reported that during the first eight months of 2020–when compared to the same period in 2018–the number of races had declined 30%, and while the overall handle declined 18.8%, purses dropped more than 26%.

During that time, overall purses in the state dropped from about $87 million in 2018 to around $64 million in 2020–a near 30% decline. The press release, however, makes a number of financial projections under the new agreement.

Santa Anita Park recently announced a 10% across the board purse increase for its 2020-2021 Winter/Spring Meet, putting the daily purse average around the $533,000 mark, making Santa Anita Park “competitive with the top circuits in the U.S. despite not receiving any casino revenues or government subsidies,” the press release states.

Under the new program, the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club is projected to increase average daily purse levels to over $600,000 in 2021.

“This is a great development for California horse racing,” said Craig Fravel, The Stronach Group’s CEO of Racing. “Along with our horsemen and regulators, we instituted historic safety reforms starting in 2019. We believe these reforms and the enhanced purses previously announced have created a great racing environment that has already attracted top stakes horses, trainers and riders from all over the country to our current Santa Anita Winter/Spring meet.”

Del Mar’s president, Josh Rubinstein, said that, “Coming off our extraordinarily successful summer and fall meets in 2020, these increased purses, coupled with the growing excitement for the 2021 Breeders’ Cup World Championships, sets us up for a fantastic 2021.”

According to TOC president, Greg Avioli, “This unprecedented level of partnership among California’s horsemen and women, FanDuel/TVG, The Stronach Group and Del Mar is just the beginning. With sports wagering on the horizon and its potential to both add millions more to purse accounts and to create new horse players, combined with the successful safety and welfare measures instituted over the last two years by our race tracks, we are well on the way to returning California to its historic place as the country’s premier racing circuit.”

There is pushback, however. According to the Paulick Report, Churchill Downs Inc.’s ADW company, TwinSpires, does not go along with the agreement-prefaced upon ADW platforms accepting a lower fee on all wagers from California residents-and the matter will reportedly go to arbitration.

The post California ADW Agreement Set to Boost Purses by $15 Million appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Verified by MonsterInsights