Championship series to be worth $239,000

Press, 23 July 1986, Page 45

Championship series to be worth $239,000

Stakes totalling $239,000 will be on offer for next season’s South Island Three-year-old Championship. The series, consisting of six qualifying races, will culminate in a $25,000 final, to be run over 1600 m at the Otago Racing Club’s meeting at Wingatui on April 11. With the lateness of Easter in 1987 and the unavailability of the Otago club’s traditional Anzac Day date, the final will be run a fortnight earlier than this year. The fluctuation in calendar dates has also meant that the final qualifying race, run at Riccarton this year, will be replaced in the series by the Dunedin Guineas on Boxing Day. Runners will qualify for a place in the final on a point basis, with six points for first, four for second, three for third, two for

fourth and one for all other runners in each of the qualifying races. The qualifying races are the $16,000 D.B. A.L.T. John Grigg Classic (1600 m at Ashburton on September 2, a $12,000 event over 1600 m at Rangiora on October 27, the $140,000 Feltex New Zealand Two Thousand Guineas over 1600 m at Riccarton on November 12, the $15,000 Dunedin Guineas over 1600 m at Wingatui on December 26, the $13,000 Gore Guineas over 1400 m at Gore on January 27, and the $lB,OOO Southland Guineas over 1600 m at Invercargill on March 21. Full details of the South Island Two-year-old Championship will be announced in late August The first event in nexl season’s series will be the $BOOO Otago Breeders' Champagne Stakes at Wingatui on Boxing Day.