Meanwhile Racing Victoria Announces Their Stake Increases!

[Chief Stipe]

Guineas boost headlines Victorian racing’s prizemoney surge

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Victorian thoroughbred racing participants will compete for more than $314m in prizemoney next season.

Racing Victoria’s latest cash injection sent prizemoney through the $300m barrier for the first time.

Next season’s prizemoney will increase by $26.2m with that amount split between stake money and bonuses from the state’s breeding incentive schemes.

However, prizemoney could rise even further in the second half of the season with RV to assess the sport’s financial performance in the second half of 2022 before deciding prizemoney for the Festival Racing in the autumn.

Racing Victoria’s chief executive Giles Thompson said Racing NSW’s move to boost that state’s prizemoney from July 1 played no part in the organisation’s thinking.

Thompson said RV had engaged in a consultation process lasting months before announcing the prizemoney upgrades.

“We have been very consistent over the years that when we think about prizemoney in Victoria, we think about what’s the most important for Victorian racing,” Thompson said.

“That’s the lens that we bring to it and we overlay that with what we think is sustainable in Victoria having made all the other various investments.

“I don’t think necessarily that it’s a head-to-head competition between Victoria and New South Wales.

“I think what’s important for Victorian racing is that we focus on what’s best for Victorian racing. We’ve done that over many decades and it’s as strong as it’s ever been.”

The nation’s top three-year-olds will compete for $3m in the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas in the spring. Picture: Michael Klein

Under the plan, several spring features aside received significant prizemoney upgrades.

The Caulfield Guineas will be worth $3m while the Manikato Stakes prizemoney will double to $2m.

But owners, trainers and jockeys will compete for higher prizemoney at nearly all Victorian meetings next season.

Prizemoney for standard country races will jump $2000 to $27,000 with premium provincial meetings to feature $37,500 prizemoney for every race, a rise of $2500 on this season.

Night races run at Pakenham and Cranbourne across the warmer months will be worth $40,000 each in 2022/23.

City prizemoney will also rise next season with most Saturday races to jump by $20,000 to $150,000 per race with the Pathway races, the ninth race of a city card to rise to $80,000.

Metropolitan midweek prizemoney will jump 10 per cent to $55,000.

The Manikato Stakes has doubled in prizemoney. Picture: Racing Photos via Getty Images

Moonee Valley Friday night meetings will offer a minimum prizemoney of $60,000 per race, up from $50,000, next season.

“It’s what we think is best for Victorian racing and that’s why we’ve taken the approach of spreading the increases right across the whole ecosystem,” Thompson said.

“We think it’s really important not to just feed to the top end of town and make the Melbourne Cup Carnival special and bring it to a crescendo but also for the grassroots as well.

“That’s what really feeds the 25,000 that are reliant on the sport in Victoria and the nearly 100,000 that participate in the sport.”

Supercharged Cup carnival plan revealed

– Gilbert Gardiner

Racing Victoria has fired a broadside in the interstate horse racing wars, with a supercharged $30m Melbourne Cup Carnival including three “Champions” races on Stakes Day at Flemington with a combined $9 million in prizemoney.

The Herald Sun can reveal the Victoria Racing Club will host the three $3m Group 1s – the top class of horse races – on November 5, taking in the Champions Sprint (1200m), Champions Mile (1600m) and Champions Stakes (2000m).

Flemington’s new Champions branding will anger NSW authorities as they created Sydney’s The Championships autumn race series in 2014.

The bitterness of the interstate rivalry was clear on Monday night when, in a direct attack on Victoria, Racing NSW rushed out a shot gun press release declaring Sydney’s Golden Eagle, a 1500m race restricted to four-year-old horses, will carry a $10m purse this year – $2m more than the Melbourne Cup.

NSW racing has made increasingly desperate and expensive attempts to steal some of the gloss from Melbourne’s world-class calendar, highlighted by the Spring Racing Carnival.

Racing Victoria will make a number of key announcements on Tuesday on top of the $3.5m boost to VRC Champions Stakes Day prizemoney.

The $3m Champions Mile, formerly the Cantala Stakes, will be a weight-for-age race with the shift back to the second Saturday at Flemington, after being run on Derby Day the past six years.

Jockey James McDonald after piloting Zaaki to victory in the Mackinnon Stakes. Picture: Michael Klein

It along with the race dates for the 2022-23 season will be confirmed on Tuesday.

The Herald Sun understands RV has also increased the minimum prizemoney for country and city races.

The stallion-making Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes, one of the three top flight races on October 29, has increased to $2m purse – up $500,000 – to sit next to the $2m Victoria Derby.

VRC chairman Neil Wilson said Champions Stakes Day and increases to Group 1 prizemoney was an exciting development for the club and the broader racing industry.

“VRC Champions Stakes Day has been years in the making, with the club pleased to be able to deliver on its vision for a significant grand finale to Cup Week,” Wilson said.

“The Melbourne Cup Carnival is one of the world’s greatest racing events and we have four days of elite racing that will continue to attract horses from here and abroad.

“The appeal of Cup Week stretches far and wide, with local and international spectators set to be captivated by the best of the best competing at Flemington.

“The VRC thanks Racing Victoria and the VRC Board for its support to elevate prizemoney for the Melbourne Cup Carnival.”

Home Affairs won last year’s Coolmore Stud Stakes at Flemington. Picture: George Sal-Racing Photos via Getty Images

Prizemoney for the $8m Melbourne Cup and $1m VRC Oaks remains unchanged.

The VRC has boosted the Group 2 Linlithgow Stakes to $500,000 – up from $300,000 last season – to match the $500,000 Carbine Club Stakes also on Derby Day.

A proposed Linlithgow Stakes distance change – from 1200m to 1400m – has yet to be finalised.

The changes, schedule and conditions, for the Champions Mile gives connections of Cox Plate horses two potential $3m targets 14 days after ‘the greatest two minutes in sport’.

It also provides horses from the Group 2 Crystal Mile on October 22 (Cox Plate day) an extra seven days (14 total) to prepare for the Group 1 grand final – Champions Mile.

The $3m Champions Stakes, registered as Mackinnon Stakes, already fits in neatly with the Cox Plate a fortnight earlier.

Pre-post Cox Plate favourite Zaaki, who was sensationally scratched on race day last year with an elevated temperature, returned a fortnight later at Flemington to make amends winning the Mackinnon Stakes.

INCREASED PRIZEMONEY FOR MELBOURNE CUP CARNIVAL

Class Race Distance Prizemoney 2022-23 (change)

Group 1 Darley Champions Sprint 1200m $3 (+$1m)

Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes 1200m $2m (+$500,000)

Group 2 TAB Linlithgow Stakes 1400m (tbc) $500,000 (+$200,000 VRC top up)

Group 1 VRC Champions Stakes 2000m $3m (+$1m)

[nomates]

And where do people really want to race a horse ? Tough question .

[mikeynz]

Is Australian racings main funding from betting deductions or from other sources ?