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Balmoral, HBPA Reach Agreement on Purses To Distribute 5,500 Minimum Average Daily During 30-Day Meet An agreement with the Balmoral Jockey Club on purse distribution for its 30 -day meeting which opens Monday, May 16, has been reached, Joseph G. Kohout, president of the central division of the Horsemens Benevolent and Protective Association, announced Saturday. A contract calling for a minimum daily average purse distribution of 5,500 has been signed, Kohout stated. Russell Reineman. president of Balmoral formerly Lincoln Fields , represented the racing association in the negotiations which were concluded on an amiable basis Friday afternoon after several hours of discussion. Under the agreement, Balmoral guarantees a minimum overnight distribution of 5,000 daily, plus a daily average stake disbursement of 0,500, making for a total daily average of 5,500 or ,065,000 for the meeting. When the daily average mu-tuel handle reaches ,000,000 a formula Continued on Pag« Thirteen Balmoral, HBPA Reach Agreement on Purses To Distribute 5,500 Minimum Average Daily During 30-Day Meet Continued from Page One for increasing purses will go into effect, with ,000 more in purses for every 5,000 increase in daily average handle above the ,000,000 mark and up to ,300,000. Minimum purses for the meeting will be ,500. E. H. McMahon, secretary -treasurer of the HBPA central division, and the divisional committee, worked with KohOut in the negotiations. After reaching an agreement with the HBPA, Reineman issued the following statement : "We stated after contracting for the purchase of Balmoral Jockey Club formerly Lincoln Fields that we would coordinate our 1955 meeting with Arlington Park and Washington Park, and thereby bring to Chicago 97 continuous days of the best in racing. "We assured the racing patrons of Illinois that we would present the richest spring meeting in Chicagos history. This we are doing. "We issued our first condition book last April 1. By projecting our purses and stakes program through the remainder of our meeting, our total initial, minimum offer exceeded ,100,000. "We now have concluded our agreement with the Horsemens Benevolent and Protective Association, which is completely satisfactory, and we are hopeful that the public response to our program will permit Balmoral to do even more for the public and for the horsemen. "We also are pleased to state that w« have received the largest number of stall applications in Chicagos racing history. "This encouraging factor has indicated, and we are looking forward to, a splendid racing season."
