2016 Indiana Breed Development Fund Approved

Blood-Horse

The Indiana Horse Racing Commission on Dec. 9 approved the 2016 Thoroughbred Breed Development Program that includes an additional $1.4 million as a result of legislation passed earlier this year.

The approved program includes increasing purses for 20 stake races from $85,000 to $100,000. In addition, the state’s four Signature Stakes will continue to be contested at $150,000 each. The overnight program will also benefit from the additional funding with an increase of 30 additional scheduled races, and the flexibility to write approximately 48 more races using a Breed Development discretionary fund.

In total, this will give Indiana Grand Race Course an opportunity to run approximately 322 Breed Development overnight races during the 2016 meet, an increase of more than 15% from 2015, the IHRC said in a release.

“The additional funds gave the Thoroughbred Breed Development Advisory Committee an opportunity to look at how we can make an already good program even better,” said IHRC director of racing and breed development Jessica Barnes. “We are all very excited to be able to offer these improvements, and we hope that horsemen will take advantage of this lucrative program by making plans to invest and race in Indiana.”

The release said the breed improvements were made possible through collaborative efforts between the Thoroughbred Breed Development Advisory Committee, Indiana Grand management, and the horsemen’s associations.

More information on the Thoroughbred Breed Development Program is available on the IHRC’s website at www.in.gov/hrc/tb.