The Championships to highlight Sydney Autumn Carnival

Racing NSW and the Australian Turf Club announced Tuesday a momentous change

to the Sydney autumn racing program, heralding a grand finale event towards the

end of the Southern Hemisphere Thoroughbred racing season.

The Championships, to be hosted annually by the Australian Turf Club at Royal

Randwick, will comprise 10 championship races across two consecutive Saturdays

beginning on April 12 and culminating on April 19. The program is a combination

of well established, traditional races plus relocated races from other dates in

the wider autumn carnival period.

Over A$18 million in prize money will be won over the two headline days of

autumn making The Championships one of the richest racing carnivals in the

world. On the first Saturday, The Doncaster Mile will be worth A$3 million,

while the T.J. Smith Stakes is now A$2.5 million and the Australian Derby offers

A$2 million in prize money.

The Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes becomes a A$4 million race on the second

day with three A$1 million and two A$500,000 championship races. The Minister

for Racing, George Souris, said this is a truly exciting time to be involved in

Thoroughbred Racing in New South Wales.

"The NSW Government is pleased to have contributed A$10 million to the

event," Souris said. "The Championships will generate more than A$41 million to

the economy of NSW, increasing further as the event gains momentum. We have

chosen this path to help ensure funds accumulated from race fields fees are

preserved for use in country and provincial areas.

"We have selected three iconic races and enhanced them to make them the

richest of their type in the world, these are the Doncaster Mile, the world's

richest mile race now worth A$3 million, the T.J. Smith Stakes, the world's

richest open sprint race at A$2.5 million, and on day two the Queen Elizabeth

Stakes, atA $4 million becoming the world's richest 2000-meter turf race."

Racing NSW Chairman John Messara believes that The Championships will become

one of the most competitive carnivals in the world for local, national and

international participants.

"We have identified 10 Championship races across various age and distance

ranges which are the highlight of these two days. Some of these races become the

richest of their category in Australia and the world," Messara said. "Eight of

those races are already Group 1 events, and with the injection of almost A$10

million, this program will lure the finest horses from Australia and New Zealand

and from other countries across the globe. Our goal is for this to become the

greatest event for racing in the Southern Hemisphere."

In addition to the almost A$10 million increase across the two Saturdays of

The Championships, a further A$2.3 million has been added to key lead up events.

Adding to the eight races at the most elite level, the Royal Sovereign Stakes

and the Princess Stakes (previously Keith Mackay) join the list to make the ten

Championship events.

The Rosehill Gardens component of the carnival also receives a boost, with

the George Ryder Stakes moving a week earlier to Rosehill Guineas Day and

gaining a A$600,000 increase in prize money to A$1 million. The world's richest

race for two-year-old horses, the iconic A$3.5 million Golden Slipper, will take

place on April 5.

Bet Horseracing Free Online at TwinSpires.com