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Purse Increases Continue at GP

The FHBPA and Gulfstream Park have been working together on purse increases for the past year with a particular focus on raising purses during the Non-Championship Meet for those who race here year-round. Purses were raised during the Non-Championship Meet last year which continued from Summer 2017 through the 2017 Gulfstream Park West Meet. Those NCM purses increased again at the start of the 2018 Non-Championship Meet and, beginning this Saturday May 12, we are raising the minimum purse awards to $750 and $500 depending on the class of the race.
Gulfstream Park put out the following press release today:
by Press Release | 05.10.2018 | 12:27pm
Gulfstream Park announced today it would begin its second phase of purse incentives Saturday, May 12 as its Spring/Summer Meet achieves record growth.
Gulfstream’s average handle through the first month of the meet is $6.896 million, up 35 percent from last year when the average daily handle was $5.109 million.
Despite racing four fewer days through Wednesday, total handle is $110 million, up $8 million over last spring.
Gulfstream started the meet with an increase in purses from 10 percent over last year. Beginning Saturday, the second phase of Gulfstream’s purse incentives will kick in.
The minimum payment for horses finishing fifth to last in allowance races, starter races of $35,000 or more, maiden special weight races and claimer and maiden claiming races of $25,000 or more will be $750. Minimum from fifth to last for any categories before the $25,000 threshold will be $500.
“In a very short time our spring and summer racing season has become one of the country’s most popular meets with horsemen, and our handle clearly reflects it’s a favorite as well with bettors,” said Gulfstream General Manager Bill Badgett. “So many horsemen from around the country have embraced our vision of a year-round Thoroughbred program in Florida, and with breeders, owners and the FHBPA putting so much into Florida racing, we felt this program would create more opportunities for horsemen and an increase in field size for bettors.”