Prior to the 1970s, only the owners of the first four finishers in a horse race in the
United States typically received any money at all. In
Thoroughbred racing, it was common for 65% of the race's purse was awarded to the winner, with the second, third and fourth horses earning 20%, 10% and 5% respectively. This procedure had some drawbacks, especially in the event of inclement weather — owners would often seek to "scratch," or withdraw their horses from a race, if the track was wet, and even more so if rain forced a scheduled turf, or grass race, to be moved to the main, or dirt, track. It was largely in an effort to encourage larger fields in these circumstances that many
American state racing associations began changing their purse-distribution formats during the last three decades of the 20th century. One frequently-implemented reform was to include horses finishing fifth in the purse distribution; the method most often employed for doing this was to award 60% of the purse to the winner, 20% to second, 11% to third, 6% to fourth and 3% to fifth, a format still observed by many tracks today. Some tracks even went so far as to include the sixth-place runner in the purse as well; most often, this resulted in 60% being given to the winner, 20% to second, 10% to third, 5% to fourth, 3% to fifth and 2% to sixth. In 1975, the state of
Florida enacted a purse-distribution format that has had revolutionary implications for the sport of horse racing in the
United States: Its adopted plan provided 1% of the purse to
all finishers in the race lower than fourth; this meant that the percentages paid out to the horses finishing second, third and fourth (but not first) became variable, depending upon the size of the field. For example, if a race had twelve starters, 60% of the purse went to the winner, 18% to second, 10% to third, 4% to fourth and 1% each to fifth through twelfth; with only six starters the winner received the same 60%, but 20% went to second, 13% to third, 5% to fourth and 1% each to fifth and sixth. This system is still in use at all of the state's thoroughbred tracks today, although a slight modification in the actual percentages (resulting in the second-place share being increased at the expense of the third and/or fourth) was made in 2005. Some tracks have taken to awarding less than 1% to each unplaced finisher, especially those tracks at which the purses have been greatly enhanced due to revenue from affiliated
casinos, which may or may not be on the premises of the track itself — since in that case the smaller percentage is adequate to cover the fee to which the jockey is entitled, which can be up to $100. The popularity of Florida's new format among horse owners led to calls for it or something similar to be adopted in other states as well, and as the 20th Century neared its end many states had indeed followed Florida's example, although the specific percentages varied somewhat from one state to the next.
New York State long resisted this trend, although in 1971 that state had reduced the winner's share from 65% to 60%, awarding 22% to second, 12% to third and 6% to fourth. Finally, in December 1994 the New York Racing Association included horses finishing fifth in its purse awards for the first time (changing to the 60-20-11-6-3 format referred to above) and in December 2003 expanded its purse awards to all finishers, allocating the same 60% to the winner, but 20% to second, 10% to third, 5% to fourth, 3% to fifth and the remaining 2% to be divided equally among the other finishers. These percentages change to 55-20-12-6-4-3 with the opening of the
Saratoga meeting on July 20, 2018. ==Current practice==