$7.5 million The Golden Eagle Headlines Huge Spring Expansion for Sydney Racing

06 Dec 18

Already the recipients of the record prizemoney levels available to owners in Australia, Racing NSW and the Australian Turf Club have gazumped other racing states in Australia when announcing the launch of a new race – The Golden Eagle – to be run at Rosehill Gardens that will spearhead an expansion of the Spring Carnival in Sydney.

The Golden Eagle, with prizemoney of $7.5 million, will be run over 1500m at Rosehill on Saturday, 2 November 2019.

The race is open only to four-year-olds and will be run at set-weight conditions.

A Key Feature of the $7.5 million prizemoney for the race is that 10% will be donated to charity.

The connections of each runner in the field will nominate a charity that has been accredited with Racing NSW and that charity will receive 10% of prizemoney won by their horse.

Overall, $750,000 will go to charity.

For example, as prizemoney for first is $4.1 million, the charity nominated by the owners of that winning horse will receive $410,000.

Prizemoney for the race will be funded entirely from new revenues, rather than drawing on existing revenues of the NSW Thoroughbred Racing Industry.

This new revenue stream will be subject of a separate announcement.

“The Golden Eagle is the first feature race on the Australian Racing Calendar exclusively for four-year-old horses,” said Racing NSW Chairman, Mr Russell Balding.

“We believe The Golden Eagle will be attractive in retaining our top three-year-olds to race on as four-year-olds and benefit the racing industry, underpinning the strength of racing in NSW and Australia more broadly.”

“The Golden Eagle strengthens our spring carnival and provides a further highlight for spring racing in Sydney. It also opens up the possibility of attracting runners from diverse form lines including The Everest, the Sydney Stakes and the Epsom Hcp,” Mr Balding added.

The Golden Eagle will also be the third leg of the new “Golden Slam” at Rosehill, with a $5 million bonus offered to any horse that can win the Golden Slipper at two, the Golden Rose at three and The Golden Eagle as a four-year-old.

The Golden Eagle is an exciting development, which will bring together the best sprinter-milers of their generation at an age when they have fully matured.

The Golden Eagle, alongside other great races at Rosehill being the Golden Slipper and Golden Rose, creates a Golden Slam that only champions can dream of.

The Golden Eagle will be entirely funded by new revenues to the NSW Racing Industry. This enables The Golden Eagle to be added as an important feature race at Rosehill and also distribute $750,000 to charities.

This brings another major event to the western suburbs of Sydney.

Rosehill now has the third richest race in the world on turf behind Randwick’s The Everest and France’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

Two additional $1 million Races for Spring

The Golden Eagle headlined changes to the program for spring racing in Sydney. Two important additional changes have also been included.

They are a new $1 million three-year-old and a $1 million two-year-olds race highlighting Saturday race programs in October and November.

Importantly, Sydney will now feature a race that highlights each spring Saturday meeting through to 9 November 2019.

The new $1 million Bondi Stakes will be run at Royal Randwick for three-year-olds over a distance of 1600m on 26 October 2019.

The race provides a new spring target for three-year olds in Sydney and follows on from races such as the Golden Rose and the Flight Stakes.

The Golden Gift, an 1100m race for two-year-olds which was first run by the ATC in 2015, will now be run for $1 million prizemoney on Saturday, 9 November 2019.

This race provides a focal point for two-year old racing in the spring (which has been missing), with the prizemoney on offer enough to ensure that the first and second placegetters will gain a berth in the Golden Slipper.

With the addition of these new feature races, the highlight of each spring program in Sydney for 2019 is as follows:

7 September 2019 Royal Randwick Chelmsford Stakes Weight for Age

14 September 2019 Rosehill Gardens Run to the Rose 3YOs SW

21 September 2019 Royal Randwick George Main Stakes Weight for Age

28 September 2019 Rosehill Gardens Golden Rose 3YOs SW

5 October 2019 Royal Randwick Epsom Hcp Handicap

12 October 2019 Royal Randwick Spring Champion Stakes 3YOs SW

19 October 2019 Royal Randwick The TAB Everest Weight for Age

26 October 2019 Royal Randwick Bondi Stakes 3YOs SW

2 November 2019 Rosehill Gardens The Golden Eagle 4YOs SW

9 November 2019 Rosehill Gardens Golden Gift 2YOs SW

“This program of exciting feature races will maintain keen interest in Sydney racing following The Everest and throughout the spring,” Mr Balding concluded.

Golden Eagle Prizemoney

The prizemoney by finishing position, including the component paid to charity are summarised in the table below.

Finish Pos.
Total Prizemoney
Charity
Owners/Trainer/Jockey/Strapper

1st
$4,100,000
$410,000
$3,690,000

2nd $1,500,000
$150,000 $1,350,000

3rd
$750,000
$75,000
$675,000

4th
$376,000
$39,000
$337,000

5th
$180,000
$20,000
$160,000

6th-8th
$100,000
$10,000
$90,000

9th-10th
$60,000
$10,000
$50,000

11th-16th
$4,000
$1,000
$3,000

Equine Welfare
$75,000
N/a
N/a

Jockey Welfare $75,000
N/a
N/a

Total
$7,500,000
$750,000
$6,600,000

Racing NSW’s announcement of these alterations and additions to the spring carnival comes a fortnight after Racing Victoria announced the creation of a new $5million race named the All-Star Mile.

More of a novelty race than anything else, it’s the prizemoney that’s the allure not the conditions of the race. To be run in March in an attempt to take the gloss off the Sydney Carnival, racing fans get the chance to help decide the field for the $5m, to be run for the first time at Flemington.

The idea appears to be plagiarised from Japan’s Arima Kinen, where the bulk of the field will be the most popular horses as voted by fans in an online poll.

To be run under weight-for-age conditions, horses with a minimum benchmark handicap rating of 70 need to be nominated for the race by early January with fans then able to vote for horses among the nominations.

The top 10 horses with the highest votes will be selected with four wildcard entries to be decided by Racing Victoria by March 5, 2019 and the final field and barrier draw decided on March 12.

It will cost $500 to nominate for the race with the winner earning $2.25m and the money raised from nominations being donated to charity.

Racing Victoria chief executive Giles Thompson said the All-Star Mile is a first for Australian racing.

“We believe the All-Star Mile will resonate with punters and owners and has the scope to widen our appeal and attract new participants to our sport,” Thompson said.

“We want to harness the deep passion people have for racing by giving them the opportunity to shape what we believe will become a major race on the calendar nationally and one that they own.

“The All-Star Mile will be the first race in Australia where the fans decide which horse will participate and who will compete for the $5 million on offer.

“We are particularly pleased that the race will rotate among the three Melbourne clubs, starting with Flemington and then run at Caulfield and Moonee Valley - another first for Australian racing.

"Anyone can vote for their favourite horse, their favourite trainer or be parochial and vote for their state.

“At $5 million, it will be the richest mile race in the world with $4.5 million paid as prizemoney and $500,000 allocated to one lucky fan who voted for the winner.”

Unfortunately, the race is based upon a popularity contest, not an open event to attract the best horses into the field so therefore, this novelty race can’t qualify for black-type status thus its longevity will be questioned. However whilst it’s on the horizon owners will be targeting these riches.

The obvious motivation for this novelty concept appears purely to divert attention away from the Sydney Carnival.

There is little doubt that this extraordinary attempt at one upmanship by Racing Victoria backfired when it forced the hand of Racing NSW to hit back which they did with a king-hit by announcing The Golden Eagle, Bondi Stakes, Golden Gift and Golden Slam which impacts significantly upon the Melbourne Spring.

The one major positive to come out of this “tit-for-tat” brinkmanship is that every racing participant and many charities are the winners.

Competition between states is great for Owners whom are already the beneficiaries of massive prizemoney and racing for owners has never been so profitable.

For a modest outlay, owners can now race for huge prizemoney that could be life changing whilst enjoying the fun and excitement the sport offers.

Dynamic Syndications has available 2yo's to aim at these new races.

To find out how easy and affordable it is to be involved contact ADAM WATT on 0409 464 378 or our office number of 02 9540 1511.

$7.5 million The Golden Eagle Headlines Huge Spring Expansion for Sydney Racing

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Finish Pos.	Total Prizemoney	Charity	Owners/Trainer/Jockey/Strapper
1st	$4,100,000	$410,000	$3,690,000
2nd	$1,500,000	$150,000	$1,350,000
3rd	$750,000	$75,000	$675,000
4th	$376,000	$39,000	$337,000
5th	$180,000	$20,000	$160,000
6th-8th	$100,000	$10,000	$90,000
9th-10th	$60,000	$10,000	$50,000
11th-16th	$4,000	$1,000	$3,000
Equine Welfare	$75,000	N/a	N/a
Jockey Welfare	$75,000	N/a	N/a
Total	$7,500,000	$750,000	$6,600,000

$7.5 million The Golden Eagle Headlines Huge Spring Expansion for Sydney Racing

Latest News

Introducing OUR HIGH QUALITY “READY-TO-RUN” 2YO FILLY

And Then There was Only ONE in our OLE KIRK Filly with CIARON MAHER

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