THE following is an initiative proposed by Harness Racing Australia, supposedly for â industry consultationâ.
This in itself, would be a novelty given the âconsultative processâ which we were told preceded the adoption of the horrendous âratingsâ handicapping system with which we are now saddled.
Australian breeders are set to benefit with a prizemoney injection of more than $2m into new racing opportunities for Australian bred horses which will lift the industry to new heights.
The Harness Racing Australia (HRA) Executive is proposing the immediate introduction of a new Stallion Levy which will raise the critical funds to promote, improve and support the harness racing industry.
Australia: A Champagne End To The Sydney Autumn Carnival Sponsored by:
Converge (6-1) carried high weight to win the Fernhill, and is therefore advantaged under the Champagne’s set weights versus those he vanquished
The Championships at Randwick may have come and gone, but Sydney s final two Group One races of the Autumn Carnival, the Champagne Stakes and All Aged Stakes, headline a 9-race card at Randwick this Friday night. Live-stream the card on the new Sky Racing World App or watch the broadcast live on TVG (First Post: 9:55pm ET / 6:55pm PT).
Just as The Championships bear similarities to the Breeders Cup, there are parallels between Australia s and America s Champagne Stakes: both races were inaugurated in the 1860s and are staged late in the season for 2-year-olds at a mile, and both have produced future Classic winners and Horses of the Year. Belmont s Champagne Stakes has been won by future Triple Crown champions Count Fleet and Seattle Slew, and its winners
The Randwick track not good enough on Queen Elizabeth Stakes day
OUTSTANDING DAY’S RACING BUT SURFACE DISAPPOINTING
The question most people were asking after Saturday at Randwick was if the “track was prepared to aid Addeybb?”
I criticised the Caulfield track on Blue Diamond Stakes day when horses had to race off the rail to find the best going on a surface rated a good (4), so it is only fair I also ask the same questions about Randwick being rated a good (4) last Saturday.
If it is good it should not be uneven.
Jockeys and punters alike considered the track in the slow range after the first at Randwick and I bet William Haggas, watching 17,000km away at Newmarket in the UK had the giggles when he saw the cut in the ground in the early races - knowing full well that the track would suit his champion Addeybb.
The daughter of Shamus Award remains in work at the trainer’s Hawkesbury base.
Last Saturday Duais further enhanced her growing reputation when a hard finishing second to Hungry Heart in the 2400m Group 1 contest for three-year-old fillies.
Cummings said he has ruled out a trip to Adelaide for the Group 1 Australasian Oaks, a race last year’s Australian Oaks runner-up Toffee Tongue went on to claim.
Duais (orange cap) chases home Hungry Heart in the Australian Oaks at Randwick last Saturday. Photo: Mark Evans/Getty Images.
“To go to Adelaide there’d be too much to do in too little time,” Cummings said. “With the carnival back a week this year it just makes it that much harder,” Cummings said.
The Championships 2021 closed with a truly world class performance by UK raider Addeybb in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Randwick on Saturday.
Addeybb, racing in blinkers for the first time proved too strong for Australia’s best Group 1 performer Verry Elleegant.
Verry Elleegant’s trainer Chris Waller won two of the four Group 1s contested on the day with Hungry Heart winning the Australian Oaks and Selino giving former champion Sydney apprentice Ronnie Stewart his first Australian Group 1 victory in the Sydney Cup.
Last year’s Doncaster Mile winner Nettoyer won her second Randwick Group 1 mile when knocking off the hot favourite Probabeel in the Queen Of The Turf.