Cape Town - Following the announcement of increased prize money levels in the Western Cape, Cape Racing have launched a rejuvenated juvenile programme.
The first sighting for the juveniles will be the annual 900m dashes for both colts and fillies at the end of November. These races will lead up to two newly created juvenile events on Guineas Day on December 17.
The Commonwealth Cup will be run at juvenile plate conditions for colts and geldings, while the Summer Coronation will be run for the fillies. These two races will carry a prize of R200 000 each.
The most exciting news is the formation of a 3-leg Summer Juvenile Series.
In total, the Summer Juvenile Series has R1 600 000 on offer, a vast increase from the R525 000 for the three races last season.
Head of Racing Operations Justin Vermaak explained: “The juvenile offering needed a total rethink and a major cash injection. A core issue around some of the field size problems we are experiencing is that horses on average are just taking too long to race.
"Horses sitting on spelling farms until they are two and a half is not serving the interest of racing nor the owner. It is worth noting that in recent years there has been a shift in the stallion landscape. There is now a broader group of sires, especially the successful ones, who are excelling at producing precocious horses.
"By initiating major stake incentives and racing opportunities earlier in the season we are expecting to see horses prepared a lot quicker and competing a lot earlier. This will have a positive effect on the racing population in the months that follow the early juvenile racing and of course, highly rewards connections who are not sitting on their horses.”
With the RaceCape powered by Hollywoodbets incentive scheme recently announced, Cape Racing is continuing with its theme of innovation through rejuvenated racing programmes and prize money levels to benefit the owners, trainers, jockeys and grooms of the Western Cape.
The series will be made up as follows:
1st Leg: Trippi Stakes, L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate Day: 7 January 2023 [Increased stake from R100 000 in 2022, up to R350 000 in 2023]
2nd Leg: The City of Cape Town Summer Juveniles Stakes (Listed), World Sports Betting Cape Town Met Day: 28 January 2023 [Increased stake from R175 000 in 2022, up to R500 000 in 2023]
3rd Leg: The Cape Racing Cape of Good Hope Nursery (Gr3), Jonsson Workwear Cape Derby Day: 25 February 2023 [Increased stake from R250 000 in 2022, up to R750 000 in 2023]
IOL Sport