NEWS
COURSE TO COURSE A look at stories in the news from racecourses across the globe.
Major weight-for-age changes for 2016 Melbourne Cup Carnival SigNifiCaNt changes to the Melbourne Cup Carnival program in 2016 will see enhancements for horses wishing to compete in the weight-for-age races across the australian Spring Racing Carnival. the 2000m (ten furlong) weight-forage Mackinnon Stakes will be renamed the Emirates Stakes and be run a week later on the Carnival’s final day, with prize money to double to aUD$2m (€1.53m). as a result of this move, the former Emirates Stakes becomes the Longines Mile (1600m / 8f Quality Handicap) and moves forward one week to the Melbourne Cup Carnival’s opening aaMi Victoria Derby Day, maintaining its aUD$1m €650,000) prize money. the final day of the Melbourne Cup Carnival will continue to be known as Emirates Stakes Day. this significant change allows middle distance weight-for-age horses to run in the aUD$3.05m William Hill Cox Plate then in the aUD$2m Emirates Stakes (formerly Mackinnon) two weeks later to vie for a total of aUD$5.05m (€3.3m) in prize money on offer between the two group 1 races. Moonee Valley Racing Club covers travelling expenses for invited international Cox Plate runners, making this a lucrative
opportunity for quality weight-forage horses to travel to australia and earn significant prize money. Refer to www.australianracingcarnival.com for full conditions for these international invitations. across 78 days from 3rd September to 19th November the australian Spring Racing Carnival takes in many quality races, but is internationally recognised for three group 1 jewels – the BMW Caulfield Cup, the William Hill Cox Plate and the Emirates Melbourne Cup. the aUD$3.15m BMW Caulfield Cup – the world’s richest 2400m handicap – is
popular with international horses and has proven a successful target in recent years. New Zealand’s Mongolian Khan won the race in 2015, with Japan’s admire Rakti claiming it in 2014 and french star Dunaden in 2012. the final of the ‘big three’ is the aUD$6.2 million Emirates Melbourne Cup – a 3200m/16f handicap run at australia’s most famous racecourse, flemington. Dubbed ‘the race that stops a nation™’, it garners the type of public support most feature races can only dream of, with crowds in excess of 100,000.
Prize money on the up at the Breeders’ Cup FOR the first time in ten years, prize money on offer at the 2016 Breeders’ Cup World Championships will be on the up. An extra $1m is being added to the prize money funds for both the Breeders’ Cup Classic (Gr1) and the Breeders’ Cup Turf (Gr1) taking purses for each race to $6m and $4m respectively. What’s more, entry fees for both key races have been capped to just 2.5% of prize money on offer. This means the cost of competing in North America’s richest dirt race will be $150,000 and in the turf equivalent just $100,000. But if your horse happens to win one of the 80 “win and you’re in” races staged around the world in the build up to the 2016 Breeders’ Cup World Championships, all your entry fees for the division that your horses can compete 12
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in will be covered by The Breeders’ Cup – subject to the horse being nominated correctly to the Breeders’ Cup fund prior to entry deadline on the 24th October.
In addition, each international starter will receive a travel allowance of up to $40,000 to cover the costs of getting to Santa Anita on the 4th and 5th November 2016. Prize money on all races this year will be paid down to eighth place, with sixth to eighth place finishers each receiving 1% of the purse money. Owners of each horse are being looked after in a new way this year, with The Breeders’ Cup giving an accommodation allowance of $1500 per horse which can be shared between multiple owners if needs be. Breeders’ Cup International Executive, Josh Christian, will be based in Europe this summer and can be contacted on 001 859 494 5419 to discuss enhancements for the 2016 meeting.