Stakes purses absorb $135K cut

SAN MATEO, Calif. - Fourteen stakes worth $1,135,000 will be offered at the Bay Meadows spring meeting, which begins April 7 and runs through June 20.

The total marks a reduction of one stakes race from last year's meeting and a purse decrease of $135,000 from last year.

Two of last year's stakes races, the $100,000 Ascot Handicap at 1 1/16 miles on the turf for 3-year-olds and the $60,000-added Sunnyvale Handicap at six furlongs for older fillies and mares, were eliminated from the schedule. One new stakes race was added, the $55,000-added Malcolm Anderson at 4 1/2 furlongs for 2-year-olds.

The purses for six overnight stakes were cut from $60,000-added to $55,000-added, and each of the meet's three graded stakes also had their purses reduced. The Grade 2 San Francisco Breeders' Cup Mile, scheduled April 24 on the turf, was reduced from $200,000 to $150,000. Two Grade 3's, the Yerba Buena Breeders' Cup Handicap at 1 1/8 miles for fillies and mares on the turf (May 8) and the six-furlong Bay Meadows Breeders' Cup Sprint (June 19) were both dropped from $150,000 to $125,000.

"We cut back on the number of sprints, but we've tried to schedule races that point to later races, such as the Miss America Handicap on opening weekend leading to the Yerba Buena one month later," racing secretary Tom Doutrich said.

"The Thoroughbred Owners of California wanted us to run a 2-year-old stakes. It may be hard to get a bunch of winners for the race" - the Malcolm Anderson - "but it will be good for the breeders."

Overnight stakes purses were cut from $60,000 to $55,000 during the current Golden Gate Fields meeting.

2004 Bay Meadows stakes schedule