Lone Star cancels five stakes

Lone Star Park near Dallas has canceled five stakes races in July because of continued decline in business, the track announced late Friday. The move comes a week after Lone Star's overnight purses were cut 6 percent and its $50,000 Alysheba on June 27 was canceled because of a drop in handle on its live races compared with the corresponding meet in 2008.

The stakes that were canceled are the $50,000 Lone Star Park Turf Sprint on July 4; the $50,000 Allen Bogan Memorial and the $50,000 Harold V. Goodman Memorial, both July 11; the $50,000 Bob Johnson Memorial on July 18; and the $75,000 Silver Spur on July 25.

The cancellations will enable Lone Star to maintain its current overnight purse structure, said Drew Shubeck, the track president.

Lone Star also announced the conditions of the $50,000 Valor Farm have changed. Previously for 3-year-old Texas-bred fillies at six furlongs, it is now for statebred fillies and mares at a mile on July 11.

Shubeck said earlier this month that Lone Star's handle on its races ontrack had been down 10 percent from the corresponding dates a year ago, while betting on its signal offsite had slipped 8 percent.