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MSW Purses: $97K Derby Week, $75K Rest of Churchill Meet; $70K at Keeneland

Projected autumn purse levels for maiden special weight races on the Kentucky circuit were revealed during a video meeting of the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund (KTDF) advisory committee on Tuesday.

Ben Huffman, director of racing at Churchill Downs, said, “We’re going to have two [MSW] purses. We’re going to supercharge [GI Kentucky] Derby week, like we’ve been doing. And that maiden purse Derby week is going to be $97,000. The remaining nine days are going to be $75,000.”

Churchill had closed out its spring/summer season at the $79,000 level for MSW races.

The MSW races for the 17-day Keeneland Race Course meet will be $70,000, the same level as the July mini-meet.

Bob Elliston, Keeneland’s vice president of racing, said that his track will “basically give away the same amount of money this fall as we did last fall” in terms of overall purses.

“As we sit today, there will be limited participation of owners or fans on-track, so at this hour we are not projecting significant daily earnings from on-track wagers. We hope that changes,” Elliston added.

Both tracks had their requests approved unanimously for KTDF funding, which means a recommendation from the advisory committee to release that money will be forwarded to the full Kentucky Horse Racing Commission board for final voting at its next meeting.

Kentucky Downs MSW purse levels were not discussed on Tuesday because the track had already requested funding for its September season back in June. At that time, a track official said the MSW level projected to be $90,000.

The KTDF is funded by three-quarters of 1% of all money wagered on both live Thoroughbred races and historical horse race (HHR) gaming, plus 2% of all money wagered on Thoroughbred races via inter-track wagering and whole-card simulcasting.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic that shut down racing, the KTDF was not able to generate revenue via (HHR) gaming and on-track wagering between March and June. It has since been able to recoup some funding with the limited reopening of HHR.

“To give you a sense of how fragile this is…had the governor not taken the act that he did to permit historical racing to comeback online, for us it may be $200,000 to $300,000 a month in KTDF funds that wouldn’t be earned. So God forbid if we have a continuation of a problem or an escalation of a problem where we had to rescind the activity. It could really encroach upon the numbers that we had,” Elliston said.

Bill Landes III, the chairman of the fund’s advisory committee, who represents the Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association (KTOB), echoed that sentiment. “Our situation, as everybody knows, is in flux,” he said.

The post MSW Purses: $97K Derby Week, $75K Rest of Churchill Meet; $70K at Keeneland appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Louisiana Downs Bumps Overnight Purses, Cup Day Scheduled For Sept. 19

Harrah's Louisiana Downs is pleased to announce that overnight purses will be increased by $1,500 for the remainder of the 2020 Thoroughbred meet. The adjustment will go into effect on Saturday, Aug. 8 and will continue through the conclusion of the racing season on Wednesday, Sept. 23.

“We thank our local horsemen for their support since the live racing season began on June 6,” said David Heitzmann, Director of Racing at Harrah's Louisiana Downs. “This has been a very challenging year due to COVID-19, so we are pleased to reward these hard working men and women with a purse increase of $1,500 across the board.”

Further good news is that Louisiana Cup Day will be held at Harrah's Louisiana Downs on Saturday, Sept. 19. The annual day of racing, which traditionally takes place in August, showcases accredited Louisiana-bred Thoroughbreds. Due to the uncertainty caused by the pandemic, the event was put on hold, but Roger Heitzmann, Executive Director of the Louisiana Thoroughbred Breeders Association (LTBA); Ed Fenasci, Executive Director of the HBPA and David Heitzmann, director of Racing at Harrah's Louisiana Downs, have worked diligently to put the annual stakes day back on the calendar. On June 16, the LTBA Board of Directors voted to earmark $100,000 for Louisiana Cup Day.

“We are grateful to LTBA for allocating the funds so we can run Louisiana Cup Day once again this year,” added Heitzmann. “This is a very important day for our breeders, horsemen, and of course, the fans at Harrah's Louisiana Downs.”

Louisiana Cup Day Featured Stakes

$40,000 Louisiana Cup Juvenile 2 YO LA-Bred Six furlongs

$40,000 Louisiana Cup Juvenile Fillies 2 YO Fillies LA-Bred Six furlongs

$40,000 Louisiana Cup Filly & Mare Sprint 3 YO & Up F&M, LA-Bred Six furlongs

$40,000 Louisiana Cup Sprint 3 YO & Up LA-Bred Six furlongs

$40,000 Louisiana Cup Turf Classic 3 YO & Up LA-Bred 1 1/16 miles (T)

$40,000 Louisiana Distaff 3 YO & Up F & M LA-Bred 1 1/16 miles (T)

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Overnight Purse Increase at Louisiana Downs

Officials at Harrahs Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, LA, have announced an across-the-board purse increase of $1,500 per race beginning Saturday, Aug. 8 and continuing through the end of the meet Wednesday, Sept. 23.

“We thank our local horsemen for their support since the live racing season began on June 6,” said David Heitzmann, director of racing at Harrah’s Louisiana Downs. “This has been a very challenging year due to COVID-19, so we are pleased to reward these hard working men and women with a purse increase of $1,500 across the board.”

Track officials also announced that the Louisiana Cup Day program, which had been in limbo due to the ongoing pandemic. A half-dozen stakes, each offering purse money of $40,000, will take place Saturday, Sept. 19. Roger Heitzmann, Executive Director of the Louisiana Thoroughbred Breeders Association (LTBA); Ed Fenasci, Executive Director of the HBPA and David Heitzmann, director of Racing at Harrah’s Louisiana Downs, have worked diligently to put the annual stakes day back on the calendar. On June 16, the LTBA Board of Directors voted to earmark $100,000 for Louisiana Cup Day.

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Del Mar Will Increase Purses By 10 Percent, Add Stakes Race Back To Calendar

Del Mar Thoroughbred Club announced Thursday a 10 percent purse increase after a solid opening span of racing days during the month of July. The increase will be retroactive back to the track's first day, July 10.

Del Mar also announced the addition of a stakes race to its calendar – the $75,000 Del Mar Juvenile Filly Turf, a one-mile spin on the grass for 2-year-old fillies that will be held on Sunday, Sept. 6. The race had been a regular feature here the previous eight years, but had been dropped from the original stakes schedule due to belt tightening measures.

Between July 10 and July 27 Del Mar conducted seven days of racing and — though it has not had fans on board any of those days as a safety measure tied to the coronavirus pandemic — it saw wagering amounting to $133,841,412 flow from its online and satellite services, an increase of more than 5 percent over similar dates last year.

“Our horsemen have been terrific and our customers have responded very positively to what we're presenting,” said Tom Robbins, Del Mar's executive vice president for racing. “We've been running either 11- or 10-race cards and our field size is up to 8.6 in the early going. We're very pleased to offer this purse boost in conjunction with how the meet has unfolded so far.”

Last summer the track's average field size finished at 8.0 per race.

Del Mar's summer season is scheduled through Labor Day Monday, September 7 with racing on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

However, in response to the cancellation of racing on its second week, the track added Monday racing on July 27 with a 10-race card that drew a solid $11.6 million in wagers. Del Mar officials have indicated that they plan to make up their second and third missing days from week two with an added race day and additional races on scheduled cards.

“We are pleased to announce this well-deserved purse increase to the horsemen and women competing at Del Mar,” said Thoroughbred of Owners of California chairman Nick Alexander. “It is very encouraging to see the positive response at the entry box and from bettors on Del Mar's races. We look forward to continuing to partner with management on another world-class race meet at Del Mar.”

The track returns to action Friday with six stakes races planned over the three-day weekend. Among the upcoming highlights are the Grade I, $250,000 Bing Crosby Stakes at six furlongs and the $100,000 Shared Belief Stakes at a mile and one-sixteenth for 3-year-olds, both this Saturday. The Shared Belief will be the first time the track has offered a “points” race for the Kentucky Derby, which this year has been shifted from the first Saturday in May to the first Saturday in September.

Additionally, this forthcoming weekend will offer the foremost race at the stand for older fillies and mares, the Grade I, $250,000 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes on Sunday.

First post on all days throughout the meeting is 2 p.m.

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