When Maryland racing reconvenes for its 2024 season – currently scheduled to kick off January 5, the same day that the Maryland Racetrack Operating Authority’s delayed report on the sport’s future is due to be delivered to the General Assembly – one thing certainly will be different.

Purses will be down from their 2023 levels.

Maryland’s purses are set to take an aggregate cut of approximately nine percent starting January 1. The cut is across-the-board but scheduled to be no more than 10 percent in any category. A PDF of Laurel’s January condition book is available here.

Maryland’s so-called “mile tracks,” Laurel Park and Pimlico, give out approximately $335,000 in daily average overnight purses currently. Timonium’s purse level is set separately by the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association (MTHA).

As a result of the changes, the purse for a maiden special weight race will drop from $52,000 this month to $47,000 in January. An open allowance will decline from $70,000 to $63,000. And at the other end of the spectrum, the purse for a beaten $5,000 claimer will go from $17,000 to $15,500. Purses for stakes are calculated separately and will remain similar, with state-bred stakes going for $75,000 and non-state-bred events running for $100,000.

The decision to reduce purses came down to one key question, according to MTHA board member Katy Voss, who is on the organization’s purse committee. Are horsemen better served by reducing days to keep purses consistent, or by reducing purses to maintain a year-round racing schedule?

“A lot of races don’t go now, and we thought most horsemen would prefer to have more opportunities to run,” she explained.

The MTHA had moved to increase purses in the first half of 2022, as a combination of factors, including racing days lost to track winterization delays and weather issues and growing slot machine revenue, left the purse account flush. But action is now necessary to prevent its sliding into the red.

The changes will leave purses below where they have been but “a tick” above where they were prior to last year’s hikes, Voss said. And they leave intact a schedule that is tentatively slated to include over 150 live days at Laurel and Pimlico.

Despite the reductions, Maryland’s purses will continue to stack up reasonably well vis-à-vis other Midlantic tracks. They will remain higher than those at Charles Town, Penn National, and Delaware Park and will be higher in some categories and lower in others than those at Parx Racing and Monmouth Park. Colonial Downs, expected to give away nearly $700,000 daily during its 27-day summer meet, has by far the region’s highest purses.

Some horsemen said the purse cut did not surprise them.

“I kind of figured it was going to come during the winter,” said Nick Dilodovico, who serves as an assistant to his father Damon and who is running for a spot on the MTHA board.

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