Sidebar

[Thomas Roulston]

It's not like the trotters, where there is a universal standard for purse distribution: 1st = 50%, 2nd = 25%, 3rd = 12%, 4th = 8% and 5th = 5%.

But what I've never been able to understand is why the thoroughbred tracks that do pay purse money to the entire field give the same amount to every horse that finishes lower than 4th or 5th.

One night I sat down and came up with a format which does away with that:

Field Size..........2........3........4........5........ 6........7........8........9....
.........1st.........70%....60%....60%....60%....6 0%....60%....60%....60%
.........2nd........30%....25%....21%....20%....20 %....20%....20%....20%
.........3rd...................15%....12%....10%.. ..10%....10%....10%....10%
.........4th..............................7%.....6 %.....5%......5%......5%......5%
.........5th...................................... .4%.....3%....2.5%...2.1%....1.9%
.........6th...................................... ..........2%....1.5%...1.3%....1.2%
.........7th...................................... .....................1%...0.9%....0.8%
.........8th...................................... ............................0.7%....0.6%
.........9th...................................... .......................................0.5%

Field Size..........10........11........12........13.... ...14........15........16...
.........1st..........60%.....60%......60%.....60% ......60%.....60%......60%
.........2nd.........20%.....20%......19%.....18%. .....18%.....18%......18%
.........3rd..........10%......9%.......9%.......9 %........8%......8%........8%
.........4th...........4%......4%.......4%.......4 %........4%......3%........2%
.........5th.........1.8%....1.8%....1.8%.....1.9% .....1.8%....1.9%.....1.8%
.........6th.........1.3%....1.4%....1.4%.....1.4% .....1.4%....1.6%.....1.6%
.........7th...........1%.....1.1%....1.2%.....1.2 %.....1.2%....1.4%.....1.4%
.........8th.........0.8%....0.9%.......1%.......1 %.....1.1%....1.2%.....1.2%
.........9th.........0.6%....0.7%....0.8%.....0.9% .......1%.......1%.....1.1%
........10th........0.5%....0.6%....0.7%.....0.8%. .....0.9%....0.9%......1%
........11th...................0.5%....0.6%.....0. 7%......0.8%....0.8%.....0.9%
........12th..............................0.5%.... .0.6%......0.7%....0.7%.....0.8%
........13th...................................... ....0.5%......0.6%....0.6%.....0.7%
........14th...................................... .................0.5%....0.5%.....0.6%
........15th...................................... ............................0.4%.....0.5%
........16th...................................... ........................................0.4%

Then, if you adopted the jockey mount fee scale they have just implemented in Illinois, where the jockey receives a flat fee of $75-$100 based on the size of the purse, plus 2% of the owner's earnings when finishing 4th or worse, and you solve both problems concomitantly.