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LINCOLN FIELDS STAKES Five ,000 Added Features Scheduled for Coming Meeting. Horsemen to Share 06,000 in Stakes and Prize Money Session Opens Decoration Day. The Lincoln Fields Jockey Club, with an approximate increase of twelve per cent in purse distribution this year over the 1937 meeting, will distribute 06,200 to horsemen during the twenty-four day season at the Crete oval, which gets under way Decoration Day. Announcement of the list of stakes was made today by Col. Matt Winn, executive director of the south side turf organization. As a lure to the better stables, five ,000 added stakes, one heading the opening day card and one each Saturday of the meeting have been scheduled. A ,200 purse has been set for each week-day as the feature event, with a supporting card of five ,000 races and two of 00 value. This distribution makes the average purse more than ,000. OPENING FEATURE. The opening feature will be the Crete Handicap, a ,000 added stake for three-year-olds and upward, at the six furlongs distance. The first Saturday of the meeting, June 4, will have the Steger Handicap, another ,000 added purse for older horses at seven furlongs, as the principal attraction. June .11 will see the running of the Joliet, a ,000 added prize for juveniles at five-eighths of a mile. The Lincoln Handicap, also one of the richer purses, is scheduled for June 18" for three-year-olds and upward at a mile and a sixteenth. The Francis S. Peabody Memorial Handicap, with a ,000 added money value, heads the card on the last day of the meeting, Saturday, June 25. This will be a distance event at a mile and an eighth, for three-year-olds and upward. Last year these stakes were run off each at ,500 added value. Officials of the track decided on a double feature program on Saturday and carded a ,500 race as a companion attraction with those stakes. LARGER PRIZES. This year, however, it was decided to endow a ,000 added event as the principal offering of Interest to the fans. The larger purses will undoubtedly prove a greater attraction to the better horses. This set of stakes is one of the oldest in Chicago. The 1938 meeting will mark the tenth renewal of the Crete Handicap, the Joliet Handicap, the Lincoln Handicap and the ninth running of the Peabody Memorial Handicap. These imposing prizes, together with the generous week-day offerings, bring the daily average of purses to ,591. Last year it was ,410.
