The Quarter Horse meet at Manor Downs starts in less than two weeks, and there is already news of a purse increase. Tommy Azopardi, executive director of the Texas Horsemen's Partnership, stated that he and Manor Downs' CEO Howard Phillips met this week and agreed that purses should be increased based on a better-than-expected purse balance.

"The increase is due, in part, to the cross-species simulcast agreement that was negotiated by the Texas Horsemen's Partnership and the state's pari-mutuel tracks late last year," stated Azopardi.

"Since the condition books have already been printed and mailed out, we wanted to make the increase easy to communicate and understand" explained Azopardi. He continued, "Another goal of ours was to put more money in Manor's older horse races."

The result is that $700.00 will be added to the condition book purse amounts on ALL two-year-old races, and $1,200.00 will be added to the condition book purse amounts on ALL three-year-old and up races. This increase includes all trial races.

There will also be an extra $5,000.00 added to the three existing handicap races listed in the condition book, and Manor Downs will add money to its first-ever 870 yard Quarter Horse race to feature the event with a purse of $10,000.00.

"We are excited about our upcoming meet and all of the improvements that we have made to our facility" stated Phillips. "Manor is looking forward to another great year for Quarter Horse racing and our inaugural Thoroughbred meet this year," he added.

Several trainers have already moved into the stable area and are getting ready for the spring meet. Comments from those horsemen have been extremely favorable about the new racing surface. Many of the trainers and jockeys that have raced at Manor for years have commented that this is the best that the track has ever looked.

The new seven-furlong track will host its first day of live Quarter Horse racing on Saturday, February 16, with a post time of 1:30 p.m. The Thoroughbred meet will begin on Saturday, April 27.