Palermo Increases Purses by Up to 25 Percent

Palermo increases purses by up to 25 percent, with focus on 2 to 4-year-old races and a 150,000 pesos performance bonus

Palermo to increase purses and performance bonus / JUAN I. BOZZELLO

After several months without updates on the matter, the Hipódromo Argentino de Palermo announced on Friday a purse increase of up to 25 percent in some categories. The new purse scale will take effect from the event on March 17, with entries opening this Monday.

For 2-year-olds, the increase will be 20 percent, as a maiden race over 1200 meters, which currently carries a prize of 5,000,000 pesos, will now offer 6,000,000 pesos, surpassing the prize money offered by San Isidro, which has already made two increases in recent weeks.

For a 3-year-old winner with one victory over 1000 meters, the prize will rise from 5,600,000 pesos to 6,600,000 pesos, while for a 4-year-old with one or two victories stretching to 2200 meters, the first-place prize will increase from 4,800,000 pesos to 5,750,000 pesos, without any distinction based on the number of wins, a long-standing flaw for younger horses.

Additionally, for a 5-year-old and older horse with two or more victories and a distance of 1000 meters, the current prize of 3,100,000 pesos will rise to 3,700,000 pesos.

Furthermore, Palermo also announced a 25 percent increase in the performance bonus for horses finishing between sixth and tenth place, now reaching 150,000 pesos.

This change will likely force adjustments in San Isidro and La Plata, where prize money, once comparable to that of the two main racetracks in the country, now lags far behind, with considerably lower and, frankly, embarrassing rewards.

It remains unclear why La Plata, receiving the same funding as San Isidro, offers only half the prize money, despite having much lower operational costs.

This news provides some relief for owners whose costs have been mounting at alarming rates.

The new prize scale at Palermo is as follows: