RACING NSW IS ON THE MOVE AGAIN ANNOUNCING A NEW $2 MILLION RACE AND FURTHER STAKES INCREASES

By Graham Potter | Friday, July 16, 2021

Racing NSW, it appears, never rests.

They are at it again announcing a new $2 million Race - The Invitation – a race for fillies and mares over a distance of 1400m.

As per the Racing NSW media release … ‘The field for “The Invitation” will exclusively comprise 12 starters invited by a panel convened by Racing NSW. Invitations will be extended to fillies and mares from across Australia and New Zealand. The race will run under a set-weight and penalty scale on 23 October at Randwick.

And the good news for NSW racing participants does not stop there.

The further prize-money increases confirmed for the Sydney Spring Racing Carnival are:

The George Main Stakes rises from $500,000 to $1 million
The Hill Stakes increased from $500,000 to $1 million
A new 2300m handicap on The Hunter race-day with prizemoney of $300,000
A new 1000m handicap on The Gong race-day with prizemoney of $300,000

“As we head towards “The Everest” and “The Golden Eagle,” “The Invitation” will provide a further highlight to spring racing in Sydney with a unique formulation of the field by invitation only,” said Racing NSW Chairman, Mr Russell Balding AO.

“The addition of “The Invitation” and further targeted prizemoney increases consolidates and capitalises on the development and enhancement of spring racing in Sydney over the past five years.”

Australian Turf Club Chief Executive, Jamie Barkley said: “The introduction of “The Invitation” and other strategic prizemoney increases to traditional races has significantly added to the Sydney spring racing program, which will now host an amazing eight straight weeks of $1 million-plus races. These enhancements will take the Everest Carnival prizemoney to a record $50 million.

The NSW Racing Minister, Kevin Anderson, is right behind Racing NSW.

“As Minister responsible for Racing, I’m extremely proud to oversee the significant growth of the NSW Thoroughbred Racing Industry both in popularity and profile in the past few years. Its growth is nothing less than extraordinary, however, as this announcement has shown, its even going to get better,” said Anderson.