Santa Anita purse increases extended through end of meet

ARCADIA, Calif. – Santa Anita and the Thoroughbred Owners of California have agreed to continue a $10,000 increase in purses for all overnight races through the end of the track’s spring-summer meeting on June 23, according to a statement published by the TOC on Friday.

Since April 19, the purses of all non-stakes races have been increased $10,000 in an effort to boost fields. The program was originally scheduled through June 2 and was then extended through June 9 earlier this month.

On Friday, the final condition book of the meeting, which details the proposed races for six programs from June 14-23, was published and included the increase. The purse increase is a joint agreement between the TOC, the state’s official representative of horsemen, and The Stronach Group, Santa Anita’s parent company.

From April 19 to June 9, the cost of the increase was shared by The Stronach Group and the Thoroughbred Owners of California from the horsemen’s purse account. For the final two weeks, funding will come from the purse account.

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“We greatly appreciate the generous contribution of The Stronach Group to this innovative program, and we felt it was important to keep it going, especially considering the health of the Santa Anita purse account,” Gary Fenton, the chairman of the TOC’s racing affairs committee, said in a statement released by the organization.

The purse increase has not led to larger fields at the spring-summer meeting, which began April 12. Through Thursday, Santa Anita has averaged 7.06 runners per race at the meet, compared with 7.67 runners per race at a similar time last year when the track had run 44 more races.

The average could rise in coming weeks. Turf races should be well supported in the final weeks of the season since Los Alamitos does not have a turf course and will run a three-week meeting from June 27 to July 14. Del Mar, which does have a turf course, opens its summer meeting July 17.