March 16th 1996

[Calzone Lord]

A Saturday date I just picked out at random from 1996.

Here are the Maiden Special Weight purses from tracks that ran on that day.


Santa Anita $39,000
Turfway Park $37,200
Aqueduct $29,000
Gulfstream $28,000
Bay Meadows $28,000
Oaklawn $20,000
Sportsman's Park $20,000
Laurel Park $17,500
Suffolk $11,000
Garden State Park $11,000
Remington Park $9,350
Thistledowns $9,100
Penn National $8,400
Sam Houston $6,600
Beulah Park $6,580
Turf Paradise $5,700
Tampa Bay Downs $4,200 (An N2L Allowance race had a $4,500 purse)
Fonner Park $4,000
Portland Meadows $3,700

Yakima Meadows had a maiden claiming race with a $2,700 purse - No MSW race that day.


That's all a MSW purse was worth at Tampa for the '96 meet - $4,200. Had they not reduced takeout from 28% on exotics - they would have kept their spot trailing tracks like Thistle, Sam Houston, and Beulah... and just edging out places like Fonner Park and Portland Meadows.

The MSW purse at Tampa is $25,000 today -- and Freddy is right in saying that 25K is peanuts - but it's all relative and they didn't need Slots.