Fair Grounds raising purses 10 percent

Fair Grounds on Tuesday announced an across-the-board 10 percent purse increase at its ongoing meet. The enhanced purse structure starts with the beginning of the next condition book, with the program of Jan. 25, and the New Orleans track, which is owned by Churchill Downs Inc., also is increasing the purse of 10 stakes races from $75,000 to $100,000.

In a news release, Fair Grounds attributed the increase to strong pari-mutuel handle while not specifying any figures. Maiden special weight races now are worth $57,000, still considerably less than Fair Grounds sister track, Turfway Park, where maidens run for $70,000, and a far cry from the $115,000 that Oaklawn Park, a regional competitor, offers for its maiden special weights.

Despite pressure from Oaklawn on the dirt-horse population and from Turfway, which runs all its races on a synthetic surface, for turf horses, Fair Grounds field size has been surprisingly healthy during a meet that began Nov. 18. Through Jan. 7, all races were averaging 8.55 starters, while 64 turf races drew an average of 9.91 starters.

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There’s no proper comparison in field size and handle between this meeting and the 2022-23 season, since Fair Grounds turf course a year ago was rendered virtually unusable for much of the meet. Starters-per-race figures this season are up considerably, though, compared to same period of the 2021-22 meet, which produced an average of 7.78 starters per race, and just 8.33 in 92 grass contests.

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