Courier-Journal Article by Jennie Rees

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Turfway Sunday purses $67.9K v. $231K for Hoosier

If you need any more proof that Kentucky's year-round racing circuit has imploded, look no farther than Sunday's races at Turfway Park and compare it with Hoosier Park.

Turfway's nine-race card totaled $67,900 in purses. Compare that with Hoosier, which is offering $50,000 allowance races. Sunday's nine thoroughbred races at Hoosier totaled $231,000 in purses, not counting a $100,000 Quarter Horse race.

The purse discrepancy is a disgrace. Turfway is in huge trouble (not only racing-wise, but the facility has become a dump). The track knows it, the horsemen know it, the bettors know it. Everybody but the majority of state legislators seem to know it – or they don't care. Kentucky is ceding a significant component of its horse racing circuit to Indiana, which is every bit as conservative as Kentucky but had no trouble bringing in casino gambling – especially on state borders such as Kentucky.

Kentucky gets everything but the benefits of such gaming. And I wouldn't even bring it up if casino gambling wasn't already in the area. But it is. Maybe the majority of Kentuckians don't think a labor-intensive industry such as horse racing is worth giving the tools with which to compete. Hoosiers obviously have a different view of an industry that is less than 20 years old, versus 136.

These are the races in the condition book for Sunday at Turfway that did not attract enough entries to be used: $15,000 maiden-claiming ($9,000 purse), $30 maiden-claiming ($11,000 purse) and claiming $17,500 ($11,300 purse). Pitiful that even such lower-end races couldn’t get enough horses.

Everything was $5,000 claimers of some sort or thereabouts. The feature was a cheap starter-allowance, offering a $9,400 purse. Every other race had a purse of $8,000 or less. Who wants to bet that?

This is a Sunday card. What does that say about Thursday cards?

And if you think Hoosier isn't going to impact Keeneland, you're wrong.

As I've said before, I have no problem with Indiana - it deserves any success it gets, bucking the odds to become a force to be reckoned with against once-mighty Kentucky.