Purses for Stallion Stakes will double to $2.3 million

The New York Stallion Stakes series will double in value next year to $2.3 million due to increased financial support from the New York State Breeding and Development Fund, which controls the state’s purse enrichment program. Each of the 10 races in the series for New Yorksired horses will receive a purse increase, but the races for 2-year-olds will benefit the most.

The Great White Way and Fifth Avenue 2-year-old divisions of the NYSS, which will be run on Dec. 15-16 for purses of $150,000, will be worth $500,000 each in 2019. The distances of the races will be increased from six furlongs to seven furlongs starting next year.

Martin Panza, senior vice president of racing operations for the New York Racing Association, credited John Poklemba of the Breeding and Development Fund and Jeff Cannizzo of the New York Thoroughbred Breeders for helping to make the purse increase a reality.

“Continuing to find new and innovative ways to incentivize the owners and breeders who fill our races is paramount to the ongoing success of New York racing,” Panza said.

The purses of the other eight races in the series will receive varying increases.

The Times Square and Park Avenue divisions, 6 1/2-furlong races for 3-year-olds at Aqueduct, will be doubled in value to $200,000.

The four turf races in the series, the Spectacular Bid and Cab Calloway for 3-yearolds and the Cupecoy’s Joy and Statue of Liberty for 3-year-old fillies, will be increased from $100,000 to $150,000.

The Thunder Rumble and Staten Island, seven-furlong races for 3-year-olds and up, will each receive a $25,000 increase to $150,000.

“Doubling the purse value of the New York Stallion Stakes Series through the fund’s purse enrichment money will benefit owners, breeders, and the bloodstock market, starting immediately,” Cannizzo said. “Having an additional $1.15 million in quality blacktype earnings on the table could also have a wide-ranging effect on the landscape of the stallion business in New York.”