Arlington Park Trims Stakes Purses

Arlington Park and the Illinois Thoroughbred Horseman's Association (ITHA) board of directors have agreed to trim stakes purses for 11 stakes races as well as putting one stakes race - the Sea o' Erin - on hiatus for 2010 resulting in a reduction of $725,000 in stakes purses for the balance of the 2010 meet. All graded stakes purse levels remain sufficient to retain graded stakes status.

Unaffected by the cuts are the six Illinois-bred stakes races that comprise the June 19 Prairie State Festival and the three Grade I races that make up the International Festival of Racing on Aug. 21 - the Arlington Million, the Beverly D. and the Secretariat Stakes.

A decrease in out-of-state handle on Arlington Park's races is the reason these cuts have become necessary.

"In order to maintain support for current overnight purses, it became necessary to make these adjustments to the stakes program," said Arlington Park president Roy Arnold. "While lowering purses is never easy, we want to do our best to provide as healthy an overnight purse structure as possible for the horsemen who stable on our grounds and support our program on a daily basis. These adjustments will allow us to retain current purse levels."

"We are hopeful that we have seen the worst in the way of handle at Arlington Park for the season and we hope that things will improve as the season progresses," said ITHA president Mike Campbell. "It is incumbent on the horsemen stabled at Arlington to race here in order to help field size, which will improve the handle, and hopefully make further cuts unnecessary."

Changes will be reviewed at the next Illinois racing Board meeting scheduled for late June. The affected stakes races are: