Maryland State Fair Trainer Bonus Money Doubles
When horsemen arrive at the Timonium fairgrounds for the 10-day meet that begins Friday, Aug. 26, there should be smiles of anticipation on their faces.
Thanks to a $10,000 increase from the Maryland State Fair, the trainers’ bonus money payout for the 2016 meet is being raised to a total of $20,000.
“The Maryland State Fair was looking for a way to add some pizazz and encourage trainers to enter their horses during the State Fair meet,” says Ferris Allen, who serves on both the Maryland State Fair Board and the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association Board.
“The State Fair Board asked me what they could do to entice more horses to make the racing go better. I suggested an increase to the trainers’ bonus, which had been $10,000 for a long time.
They made the decision and left the particulars up to me. I sat down with Georganne [MJC racing secretary Georganne Hale] and we came up with the plan that would benefit as many trainers as we could.”
A total of $15,000 will be paid to trainers through a point system, with the trainer whose horses accumulate the most points earning $5,000, second place earning $4,000 and third through fifth place each collecting $2,000.
Bonus points will be awarded as follows: first-place finish – 10 points; second-place finish – 5 points; third place finish – 3 points; and each starter 1 point.
The remaining $5,000 bonus, contributed by the MTHA, will be paid to the trainer whose horses collect the most earnings throughout the meet.
Should the trainer with the most earnings also be among the top points placers, he will only receive the $5,000 from the most earnings bonus. A trainer can’t win money from both categories and will be replaced in the points standing bonus list by the next eligible trainer.
The State Fair Board, Allen and Hale all hope the increase in the bonus money will attract more horses to the fairgrounds small, 5/8-mile oval and make the racing that much more interesting to racing fans.
“Some trainers don’t want to run on a small oval,” Allen says. “Some of them take the two weeks off to rest their horses or, if they’re based closer to West Virginia, take their horses to Charles Town, which is also a small track.
“We’re hoping the additional money here will tempt them to stay and that guys with regional stables will throw Timonium into the mix for their horses. Even if the race fields go up just one horse, from six to seven starters or from seven to eight, it will make a difference.”
These days, as East Coast racing becomes more isolationist, every enticement helps.
“Tracks [in Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia], don’t want their horsemen to run other places,” Allen says. “But Timonium is an ideal place for Charles Town people to come and guys with 50 or 60 horses might look to bring 12 here instead of four. We have trainers in Maryland, like Jamie Ness and Wayne Potts, who have stables elsewhere and people at Fair Hill, who now have a better reason to come to the fairgrounds.”
Hale, who says she was happily surprised when Allen walked in with the news of the increased bonus money, acknowledges the desire of track management to keep the horses based at their facilities in state.
It is Hale’s job to fill the race cards and she agrees every additional horse she can get matters.
“Timonium helps the little guys who win there,” she says. “This additional bonus money may get more trainers to support the meet. It will give them a little something more, we will get bigger fields. Even if it is just one more horse, it helps the handle and is a very good thing.
And the way we’ve set it up, it spreads the money so more people can benefit, not just one person.”
