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Hazel Park Raceway, Harness Horsemen Agree on Purses DETROIT, Mich., May 11.— The dispute between the Michigan Harness Horsemens Association and the Hazel Park Raceway was settled here this afternoon when horsemen agreed unanimously to accept a compromise whereby the track would distribute 38 per cent of its share of the mutuel handle in purses for the next three years. The horsemen had been asking 40 per cent but agreed on the 38 per cent figure, which is a 2 per cent again over 1954 at the suggestion of Billy Dee. chairman of the horsemens negotiating committee. Minimum purses will be 00 for the first week or so, with prospects for an increase if anything above the 38 per cent figure is left over. The Hazel Park harness meet was to have opened Monday night but the dLs- pute has kept it closed. Entries were taken this afternoon for Thursday night when the meeting, which now will be 33 nights, will get under way. The settlement was made possible when Edgar Greene, head of the Raceway and who represented the track in the negotiations, reached an agreement with the Hazel Park Racing Association which owns the track. Waldo Andrews, vice-president of the running -track association, and Ralph Matkin, a director, agreed to set aside some of the rental money paid their 1 group by the trotting organization to help pay the increased purses.
