MATCH Series to Feature 30 Stakes, Bonuses

This year's Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championships series will feature 30 races worth $3.125 million, and offer $550,000 in bonus money for owners and trainers.

The MATCH series will be conducted at five tracks -- Delaware Park; Laurel Park and Pimlico Race Course in Maryland; and Meadowlands and Monmouth Park in New Jersey. Colonial Downs in Virginia is scheduled to hold a race pending resolution of a dates issue in Maryland and Virginia.

The MATCH Series will begin April 28 and conclude Sept. 28-29. There are five divisions: 3-year-old sprint, 3-year-olds and up sprint; 3-year-olds and up long on the turf; 3-year-olds and up, fillies and mares, long on the turf; and 3-year-olds and up, fillies and mares, sprint. The division for 3-year-olds and up long on the turf replaces the division for 3-year-olds long on the dirt.

"The racing directors at our MATCH series tracks have worked hard to develop an exciting schedule that provides a compelling roadmap of stakes for participating owners and trainers from April through September," said Alan Foreman, creator of MATCH and chief executive officer of the Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association.

The minimum purse for a stakes in the series is $75,000, and the highest purse $200,000 for the Maryland Breeders' Cup Handicap, a grade III event at Pimlico. Of the 30 stakes, nine are grade III.

Bonuses will be awarded to the top three finishers by points in each division. The owners of those horses will get $25,000, $15,000, and $10,000, respectively, and the trainers $15,000, $10,000, and $5,000 respectively. The grand championship is worth $100,000 to the owner, and $50,000 to the trainer.