KEY POINTS:
The Auckland Racing Club, leading the drive to push stakemoney up, has announced a major monetary addition to the Great Northern carnival.
The ARC last night posted a $20,000 increase to the Great Northern Steeplechase and Great Northern Hurdles, to be run in September, increasing both to $120,000.
The chairman of the Auckland Racing Club, Bill Gianotti, said that with the new structure in place for jumps racing throughout New Zealand this season the board felt it was appropriate that Ellerslie continued to lead the way in providing increased returns to industry participants through prizemoney levels.
He said the Great Northerns were our flagship events and this increase in stakes, with the club's continuing policy to run its other jumps races at prizemoney levels above the industry-recommended levels, clearly demonstrated the board's commitment to jumping and the wonderful spectacle it provided for our winter racing.
This is the fourth year that the Sharp Great Northern Steeplechase and First Sovereign Trust Great Northern Hurdles will be run in September.
This year a Friday meeting before the Great Northern Day has been added to the Ellerslie calendar, creating a two-day jumping carnival.
Auckland Racing Club director of racing Andrew Castles said the September date for the Great Northerns was now well established and had clearly contributed to an increase in the depth and quality for both races, particularly the Hurdles which had boasted a capacity field each year. The club is sure this announcement will ensure even greater demand for places in both races and add further numbers to each of the supporting races.
The 2007 Sharp Great Northern Steeplechase winner Hypnotize will try to complete back-to-back victories this year. He is likely to line up for his first steeplechase of the season in the Pakuranga Hunt Steeplechase held two weeks before the Great Northern.
El Perez with 58kg heads the field for the $55,000 DLA Phillips Cornwall Handicap at Ellerslie on Saturday.
