Imperatriz beating home On the Bubbles and I Wish I Win in the Group One Levin Classic last year. Photo / Race Images
Imperatriz beating home On the Bubbles and I Wish I Win in the Group One Levin Classic last year. Photo / Race Images
One of New Zealand’s classic thoroughbred horse races will have a hike in prizemoney and change of date this season.
The Group One Levin Classic will run on the first day of the Wellington Cup carnival on January 13 - the same day as the Telegraph Handicap - after an experimental move to March the last two seasons.
Levin Racing Club president Mark Goodwin applauded the decision by New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing’s Pattern Committee to move the Levin Classic back to the January date from 2024 onwards, and this week announced the club’s intention to boost the prize purse of the race from $450,000 to $500,000.
Last season the Levin Classic was worth $350,000.
Goodwin said the earlier January spot should harmonise well with the Karaka Million Mile at Ellerslie on January 27, providing connections with the opportunity to run for money and prestige over the classic distance of 1600m with a fortnight buffer.
The shift of the Levin Classic back to a January date had come at the behest of NZTR’s Pattern Committee (NZPC).
“Levin Racing Club fully supports this decision and the efforts of the New Zealand Pattern Committee in ensuring the retention in status of classic and iconic New Zealand races such as the Levin Classic,” he said.
“Parallel to this decision, our club is continuing to work hard on plans to generate income from its landholdings that will be returned directly to the industry with the view of further improving stakemoney funding in the near future.”
“It is an exciting time for the industry. It’s an exciting time for our club.”
Since its inception in 1981, the Levin Classic has been won by some of New Zealand’s very best gallopers, the likes of Altitude, Bonecrusher, O’Reilly and Veandercross, and its most recent runnings have unearthed more greats of the New Zealand turf.
Champion galloper Bonecrusher made a guest appearance at the Levin Classic meeting in 2003 - some 17 years after winning the race himself.
In 2021, Imperatriz beat home I Wish I Win - both currently ranked among the best gallopers in the world - while last season’s Levin Classic runner-up Skew Wiff had since beat home a vintage WFA field in the Group One Tarzino Trophy at Hastings - arguably the strongest in years.
In its decision, the NZPC said the Asian Pattern Committee had unanimously voted that the Levin Classic remain at Group One status under a warning, subject to returning to its former January date.
The NZPC had operated under the Asian Pattern Committee (APC) for more than a decade, which used a series of complex formulas to rank horses and races internationally to ensure consistency between jurisdictions.
In a direct swap with the Levin Classic, the Group 2 Wellington Guineas (1400m) will move from January to March.
The Levin Classic was first staged in 1981 and with an introductory stake of $100,000 - the third highest in NZ at the time - it immediately captured the imagination of the racing public, attracting crowds of more than 10,000 for what was essentially a midweek provincial meeting.
Patrick Campbell trained Burletta to win the 1983 Levin Bayer Classic, ridden by Jim Cassidy. Photo: Race Images.
The event has had several changes in date since those halcyon days, most notably a shift to Otaki in 1990, then a move to Trentham in 2014.
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