Page 4 - February 2005 The Game

4 The Game, February 2005 Your Thoroughbred Racing Community Newspaper
FORT ERIE - CONTINUED FROM FRONT PAGE
With the big cut in
total purse money, they
expect that the larger sta-
bles at Woodbine may no
longer have a "string" of
horses at Fort Erie, as
SamSon Farm, Adena
Springs and Ross Armata
did last season. With the
track closing the first
weekend of September
last year because of reconstruction of the rac-
ing surface, many Fort
"regulars" had strings of
horses at Thistle Downs
near Cleveland, Ohio,
and Finger Lakes near Rochester, NY. With Finger Lakes now having slot machines, this track may become even more attractive in 2005.
The number of Western Canadian stables at the Fort will be drastically cut. The "Western" horsemen came to the Fort three seasons ago when the Fort's purses became much larger than those in their home area. Now that Western tracks will have slot machines, the differential will lessen, horsemen believe. Trainer Lori Going moved back to the West during 2004. Jennifer Johnson bought a farm near Mountaineer Park in West Virginia. Wendy Kruger also said she'd return to the West, leaving Rod Cone as the only major trainer from Western Canada remaining at Fort Erie.
McGirr said a typical racing day would have a schedule of four to five races for $5,000 claiming horses, two for horses at the $8,000 claiming level, two at the $12,000 level, one at the $16,000 or $18,000 level and one allowance race. The allowance/optional claiming races at the $50,000 claiming level will not be scheduled.
McGirr said forty percent of the total purse allocation will go for the $5,000 claiming races, 20 percent for $8,000 level horses, 20 percent for $12,500 claimers, ten percent for $16,000 to $18,000 horses and ten percent for allowance races.
Gostlin emphasized that cutting the daily purse total from $180,000 to $130,000 means "cutting each race's purse by $5,000 on average -- but we will not cut on average." Some races will be cut less than $5,000, some more. Last season, for instance, $5,000 claimers sprinted for about $10,000 per race and route runners competed for about $11,500 per race. The winning horse gets 60 percent of the purse ($6,600 for sprinters, for example, $6,900 for routers). But of the winning share, the owner must pay ten percent to his jockey and ten percent to his trainer. Still, to show a profit, a horse must win at least two races, or have a win and several seconds and/or thirds. Gostlin says
he hopes to keep the purses for $5,000 claimers to around the $9,000 level.
When it comes to the schedule of stakes races, the picture is less clear.
"Of course," McGirr said, "We'll be hosting the Prince Of Wales Stakes for 3-year-old colts and geldings, and the Bison City Stakes for 3-year-old fillies," which are middle "jewels" in Canada's Triple Crown and Triple Tiara, respectively. There also has been a commitment to run the Rainbow Connection, Ernie Samuels and Daryl Wells Sr. Memorial Stakes. Those will be "open" stakes, open to any horse in Canada.
There will be at least eight "in house" stakes, requiring a set number of previous races at Fort Erie to be eligible. Purses will range from $40,000 to $60,000. (They were cut from $50,000 in '03 to $40,000 last year.) There will be "one long and one short race each for 'boys' and 'girls' on dirt, and one each on the turf course," McGirr said. They would be scheduled from mid-July through mid-August.
Although nothing is certain regarding the number of stables that will race at Fort Erie, McGirr, Gostlin and horsemen stabled at the Fort Erie Training Centre -- across the road from the Fort backstretch -- offered some educated guesses.
Hopefully there is light at the end of the tunnel for Fort Erie Racetrack in 2005.
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There even could be a shortage of horses in the $5,000 claiming range. Because of the uncertainty regarding the 2005 season, "No one wanted to buy cheap horses at the end of the season," said trainer Jimmy Woods. Another trainer noted that when the Fort's race purses shot upwards, prices then were raised for feed, veterinary services, and the like. "No one expects those costs to be cut back down," he added.
But, veteran trainer Jack Wilson, pointed out, "A few years ago we were racing for $55,000 per day. We'll be racing for a lot more than that this year."
Live thoroughbred racing returns to Fort Erie on May 1 and will feature 108 days of racing through to October 31, 2005.
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