Etc. . . .

Turfway Park has increased its purses 7 percent as of Feb 22. Rick Leigh, the track's director of racing, attributed the increase to favorable weather, a change in scheduling that reduced the number of weekday races and expanded weekend cards, and large field size at the meet. . . . Norm Hershon, Golden Gate Fields's advertising and media director from 1979 to 1986, died Wednesday night at his home, at age 72, survived by his wife, Sheila; sons, Marc and Gary; daughter, Ellse Ann Durenburger; and four grandchildren. A memorial service is scheduled for Monday at 1 p.m. at Monte's Chapel of the Hills in San Anselmo, Calif. . . . Longtime parimutuel clerk Marie Elizabeth "Liz" Brooks died Feb. 18 at age 51 after a long illness, and is survived by her husband, Harry; a daughter, Stacey; her mother; four brothers; and a sister. A memorial service is scheduled for Monday, from noon to 3 p.m. at the Alameda County Fairgrounds jockey room in Pleasanton, Calif. . . . . Fasig-Tipton has cataloged 378 juveniles for its March 26 auction of 2-year-olds in training at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas. The sale, which includes 2-year-olds by top freshman sire Valid Expectations, is set to start at

10 a.m. . . . The Tattersalls auction house in Newmarket, England, has announced that it will change the format of its October yearling sale this year and will shorten the Houghton yearling sale from three to two days. Edmond Mahony, chairman of Tattersalls, said the company will offer the October sale's strongest lots during the first two days of the Oct. 15-19 auction and will limit the catalog to 950, down from last year's record 1,089, and that the the Houghton auction is scheduled for October 2-3. . . . The Sadler's Wells stallion Walter Willy, a top young sire in California and sire of stakes-placed Gimme the Willys, has relocated from NexStar Ranch near Temecula, Calif., to Old English Rancho in Sanger, Calif., for the 2002 season. Rich and Laura Soutar have purchased the 11-year-old stallion, a full brother to Group 1 winner Johann Quatz, and will stand him for $2,000 in 2002.