Santa Anita adjusts purses for stakes races

Santa Anita has cut purses of 23 stakes, including six Grade 1 races, raised the purses of five stakes, and eliminated three stakes for its 2023-2024 spring-summer meeting that runs from Dec. 26 to June 16.

Overall, 90 races will be offered, led by the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby, a $750,000 race for 3-year-olds that is a key prep for the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 4.

Purses for stakes have been reduced by $2.275 million.

The Santa Anita Derby purse is unchanged from 2023, but four Grade 1 races that were worth $500,000 will have less prize money next year.

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The Santa Anita Handicap, the track’s annual signature race for older horses on dirt; was reduced to $400,000, while the Frank Kilroe Mile and Shoemaker Mile on turf, and Beholder Mile for fillies and mares on dirt will have purses of $300,000.

Two Grade 1 races with $400,000 purses in 2023 – the Gamely Stakes for fillies and mares on turf, and the Hollywood Gold Cup on dirt - will be run for $300,000 in 2024.

The decline in purses is a reflection in a reduction in handle earlier this year, according to California Horse Racing Board statistics.

Three Grade 1 races on Dec. 26 will have purses of $300,000, the same as in late 2022 – the La Brea Stakes for 3-year-old fillies, Malibu Stakes for 3-year-olds, and American Oaks for 3-year-old fillies on turf.

The track has altered its schedule of stakes leading to the Santa Anita Derby, eliminating the Grade 3 Sham Stakes, a $100,000 race at a mile that was run in early January. Instead, the series of graded stakes for 3-year-olds will begin with the Grade 2 San Vicente Stakes at seven furlongs on Jan. 6, a $200,000 race previously run in February.

The Grade 3 Robert Lewis Stakes will be run at a mile instead of 1 1/16 miles on Feb. 3, leading to the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes at 1 1/16 miles on March 2. The San Felipe purse has been cut from $400,000 to $300,000. The purse for the Lewis Stakes is unchanged at $200,000.

The Grade 2 Santa Anita Oaks at 1 1/16 miles – the leading race of the season for 3-year-old fillies on dirt – will be run on April 6 with a purse of $300,000, a decline of $100,000 from 2024.

Two $100,000 stakes at five furlongs for 2-year-olds in June – the Fasig Tipton Debutante for fillies and Fasig-Tipton Futurity - are not on the 2023-2024 schedule.

The five stakes with purse increases were run for $75,000 at the 2022-2023 meeting and will be worth $100,000 for the upcoming season.

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