Fair Grounds cuts purse levels, citing bad weather
?q=100)
Fair Grounds Racecourse will cut overnight purses by 10 percent beginning with its Feb. 13 program, according to a text message sent to horsemen Wednesday.
The announcement cited “unprecedented weather in the Louisiana region” as the reason for the cut and said stakes purses wouldn’t be affected.
Fair Grounds, owned by Churchill Downs Inc., bakes flexibility into the purse structure for an entire race meet, but changes to the initial available money typically have come in the form of an increase during February or March.
Maiden special weight races this meet that were originally worth $58,000 will now drop to just over $52,000, well below other winter tracks in the middle of the country. To this end, Oaklawn Park offers maiden special weight purses of $110,000, while Turfway Park – another CDI track – has them set at $80,000.
New Orleans experienced a historic snowstorm on Jan. 21, when more than nine inches of snow fell. In response, Fair Grounds moved its Jan. 23 card to Jan. 27, with turf racing canceled for the entire four-day race week.
Good weather helped the first few weeks of a meet that began Nov. 22, but persistent wet conditions have tamped down turf opportunities since then. As of Feb. 5, Fair Grounds had run 83 of 401 races on turf. During the same period last racing season, 97 of 408 races came on turf, where fields are larger and handle tends to be more robust, which helps purse levels.
Fair Grounds was averaging 8.3 starters per race at the same juncture last season, a number that has fallen to 7.83 for the current meet.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.