After a picture-perfect Presidents Day Weekend, Oaklawn has announced it will
increase purses for the second time this meet. Over the three-day holiday
weekend, total handle was up nearly 30 percent over 2013 and almost 60,000 fans
turned out to enjoy the gorgeous weather and highly competitive racing.
A season high 25,622 fans were in attendance Monday to see Tapiture jump to
the head of the three-year-old class with his victory in the $300,000 Southwest.
This second purse increase will be effective starting February 27 and will
cover all overnight races. Races with a claiming price of $20,000 or less will
receive another $500 purse increase, up $1,000 from the beginning of the race
meet. All other overnight races will increase by $3,000, up $5,000 since opening
day. This means open allowance purses will increase from $60,000 to $63,000,
maiden special weights will jump from $57,000 to $60,000 and the minimum purse
will increase from $17,500 to $18,000.
Since 2005, Oaklawn purses have nearly doubled. That year, maiden special
weights were worth $31,000, allowance races were worth $32,500 and the minimum
purse was $9,000.
“I don’t think anyone ever expected to see our purses double in just 10 years
thanks to Instant Racing, gaming and good racing,” said Director of Racing David
Longinotti. “We ended the first half of our meet with tremendous momentum in
both racing and gaming and there is every indication that we’re headed into an
even stronger second half. We are celebrating this good fortune with our
horsemen as we head into the final seven weeks of our season. We came through
the bad weather in excellent shape and are looking forward to seeing some of the
best horses in the country competing for these unbelievable purses.”
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