PURSES, HANDLE UP AT FAIR MEADOWS

July 27, 2010 – Fair Meadows at Tulsa closed its 2010 meet on Sunday with increases in both purses and handle.

Purses for American Quarter Horses reached $2,411,555 this year, up from $2,284,236 in 2009. Fair Meadows handled $2,048,611 on this year’s Quarter Horse races, compared to $1,844,054 last year.

"Whew, Fair Meadows flew by this year," said Debbie Schauf, executive director of the Oklahoma Quarter Horse Racing Association. "It was a pretty good meet up there at Tulsa. The attendance seemed to be up, the on-track handle held its own and the export signal was up very well."

This year’s meet was one day more than last year’s. In 2010, 1,232 starters made 1,644 starts in 175 Quarter Horse races, compared to 1,198 head making 1,696 starts in last year’s 182 races. Fair Meadows ran a total of 403 races, including 161 for Thoroughbreds and 67 for Paints and Appaloosas.

The 34-day meet opened June 3 with the papers of more than 4,000 horses of all breeds in the Fair Meadows race office, due in large part to the closing in November of Blue Ribbon Downs in Sallisaw. According to Schauf, there were 6,161 Quarter Horses entries, with 2,129 head actually drawing in to the 175 Quarter Horse races.

"The biggest problem we had at Fair Meadows was that there were so many horses that wanted to run, and so few opportunities to enter," Schauf said. "The money was good, but so few horsemen were getting it.

"We have lots of Quarter Horses that want to run in Oklahoma," Schauf said. "The loss of Blue Ribbon is so frustrating. In 2009, we had 191 days of racing in Oklahoma, counting Remington Park, Fair Meadows, Will Rogers (Downs in Claremore) and Blue Ribbon. This year, we have 113 – 50 at Remington Park, 34 at Fair Meadows and 29 at Will Rogers. Things are going really well here in Oklahoma, we have lots of horses and horsemen wanting to participate, but we need more racing opportunities."