News

Spring Racing Carnival program enhanced

30th Jun 2015

Racing.com - Brad Bishop - Tuesday, 30 June 2015

Racing Victoria (RV) has today announced changes to the racing program for the 2015 Spring Racing Carnival to provide a better flow of feature races for sprinters and weight-for-age horses.

The programming changes, which have been approved by the Australian and Asian Pattern Committees, are complemented by a further expansion of Victoria’s staying program. They are:

• Distance changes for the Group 1 City Jeep Moir Stakes and Group 2 Schillaci Stakes;
• A change of date for the weight-for-age Group 1 Hyland Race Colours Underwood Stakes at Caulfield; and
• The introduction of a lucrative staying race for graduates of the Inglis Sales.

The programming changes follow yesterday’s announcement that prizemoney would increase to a record $300,000 for the Cranbourne, Bendigo and Ballarat Cups this Spring Racing Carnival.

Distance changes for feature sprint races

The Group 1 City Jeep Moir Stakes at Moonee Valley will be reduced from 1200m to 1000m and the Group 2 Schillaci Stakes at Caulfield will be increased from 1000m to 1100m. These distance changes mean the key sprint races leading into the Group 1 William Hill Manikato Stakes (1200m) and the Group 1 Darley Classic (1200m) will have sequential distance rises, as follows:

• 2 October 2015 – G1 City Jeep Moir Stakes, Moonee Valley – 1000m (changes from 1200m)
• 10 October 2015 – G2 Schillaci Stakes, Caulfield – 1100m (changes from 1000m)
• 23 October 2015 – G1 William Hill Manikato Stakes, Moonee Valley – 1200m (no change)
• 7 November 2015 – G1 Darley Classic, Flemington – 1200m (no change)

Movement of the Group 1 Underwood Stakes

The upgrade of the New Zealand Bloodstock Memsie Stakes and Makybe Diva Stakes to Group 1 status in 2013 prompted a swap of dates of the Dato Tan Chin Nam Stakes and Makybe Diva Stakes in 2014. This led to the Makybe Diva Stakes and the Underwood Stakes being run one week apart. To address this, RV and the Melbourne Racing Club (MRC) have agreed to move the Hyland Race Colours Underwood Stakes from Saturday, 19 September to Saturday, 26 September. The move creates the following sequence of Group 1 weight-for-age races culminating in the William Hill Cox Plate:

• 28 August 2015 – G1 New Zealand Bloodstock Memsie Stakes, Caulfield – 1400m
• 12 September 2015 – G1 Makybe Diva Stakes, Flemington – 1600m
• 26 September 2015 – G1 Hyland Race Colours Underwood Stakes, Caulfield – 1800m
• 10 October 2015 – G1 Caulfield Stakes, Caulfield – 2000m
• 24 October 2015 – G1 William Hill Cox Plate, Moonee Valley – 2040m

The change of date means the Underwood Stakes will feature alongside the Group 1 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes (1400m) and Preludes of both the Caulfield Guineas and Thousand Guineas in 2015.

Introduction of feature staying race for Inglis graduates

RV, the MRC and Inglis have announced the introduction of the $250,000 Inglis Cup (2000m) to be run at Caulfield on Saturday, 26 September 2015. The new race is for Inglis graduates aged three years and older that are nominated for the Inglis Race Series and serves to further strengthen Victoria’s commitment to a strong and viable program of staying races.

RV Racing Operations Manager, Paul Bloodworth, said that the enhancements maximised opportunities for participation and supported the continual innovation of the Spring Racing Carnival program.

“With the upgrade of the Memsie and Makybe Diva Stakes to Group 1 status in recent years, and now confirmation of the change of date for the Group 1 Underwood Stakes, we believe we have the ideal program of spring weight-for-age races culminating in the Cox Plate,” Mr Bloodworth said.

“Furthermore, the distance changes to both the Moir Stakes and Schillaci Stakes will allow sprinters aiming for the Manikato Stakes and/or the Darley Classic a gradual build-up in distance as well as providing greater variety in the Group 1 sprints throughout the Spring Racing Carnival.”

Mr Bloodworth explained that the change of date for the 2015 AFL Grand Final – from 26 September to 3 October – had also prompted a number of changes during this year’s Spring Racing Carnival.

“As outlined in our 2015-16 race dates, the change to the AFL Grand Final date this year means that the Moir Stakes will be run a week later than its usual position in the calendar, with a move from late September to the first Friday night in October to coincide with Grand Final eve,” Mr Bloodworth said.

“In addition, the Turnbull Stakes meeting moves to the Sunday after the AFL Grand Final in 2015, whilst the Caulfield meeting which has traditionally held that timeslot and will now be headlined by the Underwood Stakes moves onto the Saturday vacated by the AFL Grand Final.

“In 2016, it is expected the AFL Grand Final will return to its traditional timeslot in late September. As a result the Grand Final eve Moonee Valley meeting will also move back thus further supporting the sprint changes announced today with a fortnight between the Moir Stakes and Schillaci Stakes expected then.”

Mr Bloodworth added that RV was delighted with the addition of the Inglis Cup to the Underwood Stakes Day program at Caulfield, a move which further strengthens the Spring Racing Carnival staying program.

“We are thrilled that Inglis has chosen Victoria to stage the inaugural Inglis Cup in 2015. It will represent the first Inglis graduate race run at a distance of 2000 metres and we are pleased to be working with Inglis to further develop the program of staying races here in Victoria.”

Inglis Victorian Bloodstock Manager, Simon Vivian, said, “We’re pleased to add this event to the Inglis Race Series program as a natural evolution of the Blue Riband Session from the Inglis Premier Yearling Sale.” The Blue Riband Session was introduced in 2013 to showcase potential staying talent.