News

Scone To Host Richest Race In Country Australia

19th Feb 2009

Scone To Host Richest Race In Country Australia

Racing NSW - Grahame Timbrell - Thursday, 19 February 2009

Scone will boast the richest race on the Australian country racing calendar, and one of the richest in the industry, with the inaugural running of the Inglis Guineas for three-year-olds next year.

The race is already worth $400,000 with that prizemoney likely to increase substantially over the next 15 months.

The Guineas, to be run over 1600 metres on Scone Cup Day 2010, will be the culmination of a new initiative called the Inglis Race Series, run on 13 different tracks in NSW and Victoria.

The bonuses are restricted to yearlings bought at Inglis' five select yearling sales (Easter, Premier, Classic, Autumn & Scone) whom have been nominated to the $2.5million Inglis Race Series.

Races run on metropolitan meetings carry a bonus of $100,000 and $50,000 for races on provincial and country meetings.

So far four races have been run and two of the bonuses have not been won. One bonus of $50,000 from Canberra last November and another bonus of $100,000 from Flemington on January 1 have jackpotted into the Scone prizemoney.

Scone Race Club's president, Daniel Morgan, said the Inglis Guineas would take the Scone carnival to another level: "This means that next year when we run the Guineas for the first time, prizemoney for cup day could exceed $1million," Morgan said.

"That is unprecedented in country racing in Australia. This is one of the most exciting innovations country racing in NSW has experienced for a long time."

With enough support Inglis hopes to expand the race series to include more bonuses on provincial and country tracks.

Buyers who purchase a yearling at Inglis' Easter, Premier or Classic Yearling sales can pay the $2,200 entry fee, or $1,100 from the Autumn & Scone Yearling Sales to be eligible for the series.

The horse, Patra Rivers, won the Inglis Bonus Two-Year-Old on Canberra Cup Day. However, trainer Fabian Azzopardi from Queanbeyan did not think she was worth paying the entry fee and missed out on collecting $50,000 bonus.