Evangeline Downs Racetrack and Casino announced a 10 percent across-the-board increase in purses for the second condition book, starting April 29. The increase raises the daily average purse payout to $165,000, nearly triple the average in 2003, when the track's slot machine facility opened for business in December of that year.

Saturday's $100,000 Bosselman/Gus Fonner Stakes is likely to draw a full field of 10.

Trainer Jose Gonzalez is considered probable to run his entry of Skip and Go and Butte City. Skip and Go likely will be the starting highweight at 118 pounds. He is coming off a strong second to Fin Entertainment in the Sunland Park Handicap on March 26. Butte City has been running at the $25,000 claiming level but also was fourth in the Curribot Handicap in February at Sunland.

The local probables are Lukfata Louis, Robin Zee, George Taylor, and Loan Me a Fen.

Purses at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., could begin next year at the record levels they reached during the 2005 meet, which ended last Saturday. Oaklawn paid out approximately $264,424 a day following two purse increases during the meet, both made possible by Instant Racing.

Instant Racing is a parimutuel game that plays like a slot machine, and during the Oaklawn meet daily handle on the machines averaged $703,304, up from about $300,000 a day during the 2004 meet.

Penn National is planning two promotions in conjunction with the Kentucky Derby. On Derby Day, Penn National will print an equal number of $2 win tickets on each Kentucky Derby starter. Fans 18 years and older arriving between 3 and 6 p.m. will each be given a $2 win ticket.

On Friday, May 6, fans 18 years and older will get a $5 wagering voucher with each paid admission, beginning at 5:30 p.m. Advance wagering on the Derby will also be available that night.

Trainer Eric Kruljac and jockey Scott Stevens swept last Saturday's stakes, winning the $40,000 Cactus Flower Handicap with Fun'ngames Toknite ($9.20) and the $23,900 Gene and Wanda June Johnson Stakes with Grimm ($6.20).

"That's a Saturday at the races worth repeating," said Kruljac, who is tied for second with 51 victories in the trainers standings with Dan McFarlane.

Prairie Meadows, which begins a 47-day Thoroughbred meeting Thursday evening, will host the first Grade 2 race in its history when the $350,000 Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Breeders' Cup Handicap is run on July 2.

Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., closed out its 55-date meet Saturday with a decline in handle on its races offtrack, but increases in ontrack live handle, attendance, and purses. The average daily total all-sources handle on Oaklawn's live races this year of $4,009,099 was a decrease of 7.2 percent from last year's meet.

Oaklawn handled $2,956,970 a day on its races offtrack, a 10 percent decline from 2004. Ontrack, about $1,052,129 a day was bet on Oaklawn's races, up from last year's mark of $1,032,937.

Trainer Kearney Segura has received a three-year suspension and a $5,000 fine from the Louisiana Racing Commission for running an unraced maiden in place of a $20,000 claiming horse on Jan. 1 at Delta Downs.

Segura started the unraced 3-year-old, named Caro's Majesty, in the race instead of Swim Easy, who had been entered in the optional claiming race. Caro's Majesty, sent off at 5-2, was pulled up in the five-furlong event by jockey Jerri Nichols and claimed for $20,000. Both Caro's Majesty and Swim Easy are owned by Mohammed T. Islam.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - One thing that D. Wayne Lukas seldom lacks is confidence in his horses. That singular trait is serving Lukas well as the Coolmore Lexington Stakes approaches, since Lukas will start Going Wild, who does not exactly enter the race in peak form.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - The six older males entered in Thursday's eighth race have combined for 51 wins and well over $1 million in earnings, so as third-level allowance races go, this one came up pretty tough.

Bailero, My Kind of Town, Country Judge, and Potrisunrise are offered for the optional claiming price of $75,000 in the one-mile feature. Philanthropist and Diligent Gambler - whose nine wins last year tied for the most by any Thoroughbred in North America - have been entered not to be claimed.