Fairmount purse bill passes

STICKNEY, Ill. - The Illinois House of Representatives passed a bill Friday that would funnel evening simulcast revenues at Fairmount Park back to Thoroughbred purses at the track. The bill, defeated a day earlier by the House, passed by six votes in a re-vote Friday. It must still be signed by Gov. George Ryan before becoming law.

At other Illinois racetracks, the Standardbred industry has a claim on evening simulcast revenues, while the Thoroughbred industry receives revenues generated before 6:30 p.m. Central. Fairmount Park, which long ran a Standardbred meet, dropped harness racing last year, a move that prompted its effort to reclaim its evening simulcast revenues, valued last year at about $5.4 million.

The bill's passage reverses a ruling handed down last winter that gave the state's harness racing industry 80 percent of Fairmount's evening simulcast revenues.