UK's new All-Weather Championships series set to begin

Arena Racing Company (ARC), as owners of three of the four all-weather tracks in

Britain, have committed £2 million in extra prize funds per annum in an initial

three-year commitment to the improvement of the sport. The

All-Weather

Championships run throughout the season from October to April and culminate with

the staging of the richest all-weather card ever seen in Europe.

Across the season there will be 52 new class 2 and 3 races

inserted in to a much improved race program, which has been developed with the

British Horseracing Authority (BHA), and which adds a further £1 million into the Championships. In addition, six new races have been created with a

total prize fund of £1 million on offer for All-Weather Championships Finals

Day.

The All-Weather Championships will launch on October

26 at Wolverhampton and climax at Lingfield Park on Good Friday, April 18, 2014.

Every race between those dates will count as qualifiers for one of the six

Championship distances. Horses will qualify either through special "Win and

You're In" or by being the top rated horses over each Championship

distance.

The Championships will comprise of six different categories for

three-year-olds, fillies and mares,

marathon, sprint, mile and middle distance horses. The six categories will provide a category to

test every horse, jockey and trainer. In order to qualify for a Championship

Race, a horse has to have run a minimum of three times on the all-weather tracks

in the qualifying period or win one of the three "Win & You're In" qualifiers in each

category that will be scheduled.

The final race of each category will take place on All-Weather Championships

Finals Day. The races will be held at all of the United Kingdom's all-weather

tracks at Lingfield Park, Wolverhampton and Southwell Racecourses and The Jockey

Club's Kempton Park Racecourse.

"Developing the

Championships has been a combined effort and we are very grateful to our

partners, Ladbrokes, Coral, 32Red and Bookmakers.co.uk for joining us in this

new initiative for British All-Weather Racing," said Jim Allen, racing director

at ARC. "AtTheRaces will also be supporting the entire series with extensive

coverage of the All-Weather Championships.

"Racegoers and punters alike will have an exciting season of racing

to follow throughout the winter months. Considerable investment will be made

into the promotion of the All-Weather Championships with the creation of a

dedicated website and social media channels."

"It has been an exciting and challenging few months and I am delighted we

have been able to launch the new All-Weather Championships for the 2013/2014

winter season," added Tony Kelly, managing director at ARC.

"I would like to take this opportunity to thank our four

sponsorship partners without whom we couldn't have achieved this. I would also

like to thank our colleagues at the BHA and at the HBLB who not only embraced

the idea, but worked with us to redesign the race program.

"We also undertook an extensive consultation process with

the owners, trainers and jockeys associations as well as the Horsemen's Group,

we are grateful for their interest and support and we look forward to seeing

them enjoying the enhanced benefits throughout the winter.

"We hope that this Championship heralds a new dawn for all-weather racing in

the UK and we are delighted to be leading the way in making that happen."

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