Purses increased for 93-day meet

The situation for Ohio horsemen in Cincinnati looks brighter as Belterra Park launches its third season of live racing Friday.

Purses, while still considerably lower than at cross-state track Thistledown near Cleveland, are up substantially in the first condition book compared with the beginning of the 2015 meet. Belterra will race 93 days, with live action Thursdays through Sundays through Oct. 8.

Maiden special weight runners in open company will compete for a purse of $13,000, a 33 percent increase from last spring’s level of $9,800. Bottom-level, open $4,000 claimers will run for $7,800, a 34 percent jump from $5,800 last year. And a first-level allowance is now worth $13,500, a 32 percent increase from the $10,200 offered a year ago.

Belterra also will try to make more use of the turf course that opened last year. Plagued by wet weather, Belterra was only able to conduct 22 grass races – 19 routes and three sprints – during the 93-day day meet in 2015. The first turf race in the condition book is an $8,000 starter allowance on May 7.

Six of the 12 $75,000 stakes for Ohio-breds that will be offered at Belterra are scheduled for turf, starting with the Tomboy for 3-year-old fillies on May 15.

The stakes schedule begins Sunday with the Edward Babst/Albert Palacios Memorial Handicap for older sprinters going six furlongs. Among the nominees are Jac’s Fact, the 2015 Ohio-bred Horse of the Year; statebred 3-year-old filly champion Justalittlesmoke; and champion statebred sprinter Rivers Run Deep, who won this event last season by nine lengths.

Friday’s season opener attracted 73 horses for eight races, highlighted by an eight-horse lineup for a first-level allowance at six furlongs. First post is 3 p.m. Eastern.

Joe Woodard, who has been the leading trainer at every meet in Cincinnati since 2009, will send out new acquisition Ice Cream Truck in the six-furlong feature. The 6-year-old Ice Cream Truck is coming off a runner-up finish in a $10,000 claimer at Santa Anita earlier this month.

Perry Ouzts remains the dominant rider at Belterra. Ouzts, 61, rode 105 winners last season and has finished atop the jockey standings at every meet in Cincinnati since 2008. Ouzts, 11th on the all-time list of jockeys in North America, begins the meet with 6,582 career victories. Ouzts has mounts in all eight races Friday.