Facing 25% less money for purses in 2003, Prairie Meadows Racetrack is considering changing its festival of racing program, which has in the past been run on the July 4 holiday weekend.

Typically, Prairie Meadows allocates 18% of its purse money to stakes races, which meant $2.5-million for stakes races in 2002. The overall cut in purses would mean a $600,000 decline in stakes race purses for 2003.

Prairie Meadows's options include cutting all stakes by 25% or eliminating some stakes to keep the value of others. Prairie Meadows Director of Racing Derron Heldt would like to keep the festival, noting that it has drawn such notable horses as champion Caressing, eventual Dubai World Cup (UAE-G1) winner Captain Steve, and Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) winner Unbridled Elaine.

"Before, no one paid attention to our festival," Heldt told the Des Moines Register. "Now, we have our niche, and everyone from Arlington to Churchill is paying attention to us. We'll have to look at our whole stakes program for both [the Thoroughbred only and mixed] meets at one time and evaluate our options."

The dual meets present another problem to the festival. In 2003, the Thoroughbred meet ends on June 28 with the mixed meet beginning on July 4. If Prairie Meadows wants to retain the festival as is, then it would have to shift it to the mixed meeting.