11th Jul 2011
Australia’s leading thoroughbred auctioneer Inglis has launched the Inglis Race Series program for nominated yearlings sold exclusively through Inglis Select Yearling Sales in 2011.
This series will run from October 2011 through to May 2013, with a minimum of $2.6 million on offer for nominated two and three-year-olds in Bonus and Select Races held in NSW, VIC and the ACT.
The series comprises $1.7 million disbursed over 8 Inglis Select Races restricted to nominated horses, in addition to $850,000 on offer over 13 Inglis Bonus Races of $100,000 or $50,000, scheduled on two-year-old and three-year-old races from 1000m-1600m.
The 2011 series commences with the running of the $250,000 Inglis Banner over 1000m at Moonee Valley on 22 October – Cox Plate Day. Restricted to two-year-olds nominated to the Inglis Race Series, the Inglis Banner was won last year by the John O’Shea trained high class filly, Elite Falls, who went onto win the G2 Reisling Stakes and place in the G1 Golden Slipper in the same season.
Elite Falls is just one of the success stories from the Inglis Race Series during the 2010/2011 racing season. Along with Elite Falls, Sincero (Inglis Guineas), Masthead (Inglis Premier) and Pane In The Glass (Inglis Nursery & Inglis Classic) all won feature races in the series and in the process earned their connections a combined $740,000 in prizemoney. Indeed Masthead’s victory in the Inglis Premier assured the horse a start in the G1 Blue Diamond Stakes, with first place prizemoney allowed when assessing Blue Diamond ballot conditions. Masthead subsequently ran third and earned himself and his connections valuable black type.
A highlight of the series is the rewarding Inglis Trainer Bonus where $50,000 is awarded to the trainer with the most wins throughout the series.
Leading Sydney trainer John O’Shea, who was a joint winner of the Trainer Bonus in the series just concluded, is an advocate of the Race Series format. “It is a wonderful system because it spreads money throughout the year and at several different tracks. It gives you a lot of chances to win bonuses.”
A number of enhancements have been made to the 2011 Inglis Race Series program including:
The 3YO Inglis Guineas will have minimum prizemoney of $400,000 for the next two years.
A $50,000 Inglis Bonus on the Lightning Ridge 2YO Plate at Canberra, two weeks prior to the Black Opal Stakes.
The $100,000 Inglis Autumn Plate will be held at Bendigo in 2012 with an increased field limit and a race distance change to 1100m.
A $50,000 Inglis Bonus on the Elvstroem 2YO Classic held during the Swan Hill Cup Carnival. Swan Hill is a quality racetrack for young horses with the length of its straight almost three times that of Moonee Valley.
Two new 3YO Inglis Bonus races: a $50,000 Inglis Bonus on the Albury Guineas and a $50,000 Inglis 3YO Bonus race programmed on Bendigo’s stand-alone meeting.
Race distance changes have also been implemented to:
-3YO Inglis Guineas at Scone – now 1400m (effective from 2012)
-2YO Inglis Challenge at Scone – now 1100m
Recently Inglis announced an alliance with luxury goods group Swarovski. Through this partnership, the winning trainer of the 8 Inglis Select Races in this series will each receive a pair of exclusive Swarovski Optik EL 42 Swarovision binoculars valued at ~ $3,000.
To be eligible for this year’s Inglis Banner and the entire series for 2011 yearling sale graduates, nomination and payment is due by Friday 29 July 2011. Nomination forms can be downloaded [HERE.](http://www.inglis.com.au/uploads/documents/2011 All Yearling Sales Nomination Form.pdf) Yearlings which were passed in are also eligible for nomination to the series.
Further information on the Inglis Race Series including the full program of races for 2011 yearling sale graduates can be found HERE or by emailing raceseries@inglis.com.au
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