Railway Handicap to be richest sprint race in N.Z.

Press, 17 November 1987, Page 47

Railway Handicap to be richest sprint race in N.Z.

From

J. J. BOYLE,

in Auckland The Auckland Racing Club’s Railway Handicap, with further sponsorship announced yesterday, will become the richest sprint race run in New Zealand. Worth $lOO,OOO last season, when sponsored by Clearwood Stud, the race next time, on New Year’s Day, will be run for $150,000, backed now by Fieldhouse Stud. The increase in the stake for the Railway was one of several announced

yesterday during a news media seminar arranged by the club at Ellerslie. Another, announced by Mr Bob Wallace for Air New Zealand, was for the weight-for-age Air New Zealand Stakes, up $25,000 to $200,000. This was the twelfth year, Mr Wallace said, that Air New Zealand had backed the race, without any doubt the premier weight-for-age event in the country. He said the Air New Zealand meeting, on February 27, would be further enhanced by stake increases for other races

and believed the prize for the Lindauer Stakes would be raised to $85,000. Regarding the Railway, the club’s secretarymanager, Mr Richard Bensom, said that consideration was being given to reducing the field from 14 to “the best 12 horses that were attracted to the race.” Reiterating other stakes increases he remarked on the Queen Elizabeth Stakes being raised by $40,000 to $60,000, the $BO,OOO for the Wrightson Bloodstock Stakes and the

$BO,OOO Evergreen Lodge Foal Stakes. Timetables have been settled already for the four days of the Auckland Cup carnival. The two principal events on the first day, Boxing Day, will be at 3.5 p.m. (Troy New Zealand Derby) and 3.50 p.m. (Jaguar Plate). The D.B. Auckland Cup is scheduled for 3.5 p.m on January 1 and the Fieldhouse Railway for 4.25 p.m. The feature event on the fourth day, January 2, the Flag Inns Trophy, will be at 3.10 p.m. Thanks to the involvement of Dominion Breweries, promotional expenditure associated with the summer racing carnival is more than $400,000.