Saturday, September 13, 2008

CALDER RACE COURSE TO REDUCE PURSES FOR OVERNIGHT RACES AND STAKES RACES

Calder Race Course (“Calder”) announced today that due to lower than anticipated business levels, the racetrack is reducing overnight purses by 17 percent, effective with the Thursday, Sept. 18, card. The reductions will affect most races, although overnight stakes will retain their $55,000 level. Several stakes races during both the Calder Meet and Tropical Meet will also be affected.

“A number of factors require that these reductions be made,” said Kevin Flanery, senior vice president of Churchill Downs Incorporated, Calder’s parent company. “Calder has not fully recovered from the two and a half months at the beginning of the season when its signal was not allowed to be simulcast out of state. In addition, Calder racing has not been available through advance deposit wagering platforms, such as TwinSpires.com, since the season began on April 21 due to an ongoing dispute with the Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Group.”


Due to a dispute with the Florida Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association that prevented the export of Calder’s signal into the simulcast market and the import of certain out-of-state horse racing signals into the Florida simulcast market, Calder reduced purses by 30 percent effective April 27 and announced a subsequent reduction in the purses of eight stakes races in May. The dispute was resolved in July and purses were restored to the level at the beginning of the meet; however, in the time since then, lower than anticipated business levels necessitated the present reduction.

In addition to the reduction of overnight purses, cuts totaling $1,020,000 will now be made to upcoming stakes races on the Calder and Tropical schedules. Those reductions are as follows:

Calder Meet


* Brave Raj Stakes from $150,000 to $90,000
* Foolish Pleasure Stakes from $150,000 to $90,000
* $100,000 Shocker T. Handicap and $100,000 Hollywood Wildcat Handicap – cancelled


Tropical Meet:

* $100,000 Challenge of the Americas Invitational – cancelled
* $100,000 Kris S. Stakes and $100,000 Cherokee Frolic Stakes – cancelled
* La Prevoyante Handicap from $200,000 to $150,000
* W.L. McKnight Handicap from $200,000 to $150,000
* $100,000 Chaposa Springs Handicap and $100,000 Pete Axthelm Stakes – cancelled
* $100,000 Tropical Park Oaks – cancelled

Business levels will continue to be monitored and adjustments to the distribution of overnight purses will be made accordingly.

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