Jim Murray Handicap Purse Increased

The purse for the 2003 Jim Murray Memorial Handicap will be increased to $400,000 from $75,000 as Hollywood Park will feature a Los Angeles Times-themed program May 10 in conjunction with the first annual L.A. Times Sports Workshop for aspiring sports journalists.

The Workshop, honoring the Jim Murray, the late Pulitzer prize-winning columnist for The Times, will run from May 7-10 at Hollywood Park under the direction of The Times sports staff.

The Jim Murray Memorial Handicap, inaugurated in 1990, is for 3-year-olds and up at 1 1/2-miles on turf. The purse increase makes it the richest turf marathon on the West Coast along with the San Juan Capistrano Handicap.
Hollywood Park's May 10 program will also include the $200,000 Los Angeles Times Handicap, a grade III event formerly known as the Los Angeles Handicap. The $150,000 Mervyn LeRoy Handicap, a grade II race, will be carded along with several other Times races to be named later.