Miami Valley Raceway and the Ohio Harness Horsemens' Association are pleased to announce a joint agreement which will boost the purses by ten percent across-the-board effective this Friday night, March 27, and throughout the remainder of the meet.
Now in its second season, Miami Valley has been distributing an average of almost $90,000 per program through the first 59 nights of the meet and will average approximately $100,000 per program for the final thirty nights of the season which ends May 3.
The purses will now range from $3,850 for bottom level condition horses (N/W $1000 in last 4 starts) and bottom level $4,000 claimers up to full-field Opens which will carry $18,150 purses.
"The strength of our product, the meat-and-potatoes if you will, are the mid-range condition and claiming races that consistently produce the best betting boards and the most thrilling stretch duels," said Race Secretary Gregg Keidel. "The purse increases in all those classes can only make a good thing even better. Our final six weeks of this meet promise to be very exciting!"
Video Lottery Terminal (VLT) play has remained strong at the Miami Valley racino throughout 2014 and early 2015 allowing the Raceway to provide lucrative purses and ample racing opportunities for Ohio horsemen. The harness horsemen have responded by continually improving their stables in both quantity and quality, which has produced full fields of competitive races on a nightly basis.
Patrons continue to jam the grandstand, especially on Friday and Saturday nights, and overall handle has increased significantly over the numbers generated during the inaugural season.
(Miami Valley)