Hawthorne cuts purses by 7 percent

Hawthorne Race Course has trimmed purses by 7 percent for the remainder of its fall-winter meet. The purse cut takes effect Sunday. The Hawthorne meet began Sept. 23 and runs through Jan. 2.

Thomas Carey, Hawthorne's president, said out-of-state handle at the meet had been solid, but declines in in-state and on-track handle, which produce higher commissions for the host track, had spurred the cut.

"This is essentially a pretty benign issue," Carey said, an assessment with which Joe Kasperski, president of the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's association, actually agreed.

"We're still running for more than we were at the end of Arlington," Kasperski said. "It's not the end of the world."