Pimlico will offer 21 stakes worth $4.2 million
February 20, 2015The Maryland Jockey Club on Wednesday afternoon released a 21-race stakes schedule for the Pimlico spring meet that will offer total purses of more than $4.2 million. Two Preakness weekend bonus programs for owners and trainers were also announced.
The $1.5 million Preakness, second jewel of the Triple Crown, will be run May 16, two weeks after the Kentucky Derby. Seven supporting stakes have been scheduled for the Preakness undercard.The other stakes at the meet will be run April 18, when six are scheduled, and on Black-Eyed Susan Day, the day before the Preakness Stakes, when seven are planned.
This year’s schedule is $375,000 less than in 2014 when 23 stakes worth $4.6 million were run at Pimlico. The savings will be reallocated to overnight purses. The most noticeable change to the schedule is that the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan has had its purse cut in half from $500,000 to $250,000. The Black-Eyed Susan purse had been boosted from $300,000 to $500,000 in 2013.
The Grade 2 Dixie, on the Preakness undercard, has also had its purse trimmed. Boosted to $400,000 last year, it is being returned to $300,000. The Miss Preakness, a six-furlong sprint for 3-year-old fillies, has had its purse boosted $50,000 to $150,000. The Miss Preakness, formerly ungraded, is a Grade 3 this year.
Three stakes have been dropped from this year’s schedule and a stakes that was not run last year has been brought back. The dropped stakes are the $75,000 Mister Diz and the $75,000 Twixt Stakes for Maryland-breds, and the $75,000 Rollicking, a stakes for 2-year-olds that was run on Black-Eyed Susan Day. The Grade 3, $150,000 Allaire DuPont Distaff, a 1 1/8-mile race for fillies and mares which was not run last year, has been restored and is part of the Black-Eyed Susan card.
A bonus has been put into place to reward winners of Triple Crown races that run in the Grade 3, $300,000 Pimlico Special on Black-Eyed Susan Day. The owner and trainer of a Triple Crown race winner will each receive a $50,000 bonus for running in the Pimlico Special. If a horse has won two Triple Crown races, the owner and trainer will each receive $100,000.
The bonus system is intended to lure Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner California Chrome, and Belmont Stakes winners Tonalist and Palace Malice. A $100,000 trainer participation bonus has also been tied to Preakness weekend to bolster the Preakness and Black-Eyed Susan undercards. Trainers who run in five or more stakes or starter races Preakness weekend are eligible. The bonus will be distributed on a points system based on where a trainer’s horses finish in their races. The top points winner will receive $50,000; second will get $25,000; third, $12,000; fourth, $4,000; and fifth, $2,000. The Pimlico meet will run from April 2 to June 6.