North Texas Track to Offer 78 Live Racing Dates as SHRP and Retama Drop the Ball
Thoroughbreds 52 Days Starting April 14; Quarter Horses 26 Days Beginning Sept.
16
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas (LSP) – Lone Star Park at Grand Prairie was granted 78 live racing dates for 2011 at Tuesday’s Texas Racing Commission meeting in Austin, Texas, including a 52-date Spring Thoroughbred Season that will be run from April 14 through July 10 and a 26-night Fall Meeting of Champions for American Quarter Horses from Sept. 16 – Nov. 12, 2011.
The 52-day Thoroughbred schedule is eight days less than the 2010 meet while the Quarter Horse schedule will be the same number of days as will be run during this year’s Fall Meeting of Champions, which begins this Friday, Sept.
17.
“After extensive discussions with the Texas horsemen’s groups, we determined that in order to have an acceptable level of average daily purses with the maximum number of racing opportunities for the horsemen, we would need to shorten our Spring Thoroughbred meet to 52 days in 2011,” said Lone Star Park President and General Manager Drew Shubeck. “With eight less days, our average purses should be about $170,000 a day, which is $20,000 higher than 2010.
“In addition, as far as our stakes schedule is concerned, everything is on the table,” added Shubeck. “We may have to make some significant adjustments so that we can strike the right balance between overnights and stakes races.”
The Spring Thoroughbred Meet opens on Thursday, April 14 with 52 days of live racing every Thursday through Sunday until July 10, except for Thursdays June 2 and July 7. In addition, there will live racing on Memorial Day, Monday, May 30 and on Monday, July 4.
In the Fall, the Quarter Horse meet kicks off with opening weekend on Friday, Sept.
16 and Saturday, Sept. 17. After that, live racing will continue every Thursday through Saturday night from Sept.
22 through Nov. 12.
Lone Star Park’s 26-day, 2010 Fall Meeting of Champions for American Quarter Horses will be held from Sept. 17 to Nov. 13. After the opening weekend on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 17-18, racing will be held every Thursday through Saturday night through the end of the meet. First post time for all dates will be 6:35 p.m. For more information on Lone Star Park visit LoneStarPark.com.
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