view raw text
AUSTRALIAN STAKE VALUES j Pimlico System of Free Entrance Common Feature of Rich Races Melbourne Cup Most Valuable. In Australia June 1 is generally known as Nomination Day, because a large number of the most important races given by the big clubs close for entries on that day. Owners are generously treated in the matter of the initial cost of making nominations, as the following list of richly endowed stake races, which closed last June 1, will serve to show: - Victoria Racing Clubs spring meeting, 1020: Added. Name of race. money. Entrance Maribyrnong Plate 0,000 Free Cantala Stakes ; 10,000 $ 5 Melbourne Cup .15,750 10 Autumn Meeting, 1021: Sires Produce Stakes 2,500 Free Ascotvale Stakes 7,500 Free Spring Meeting, 1921: Victoria Derby 515,000 Free Oaks Stakes 7,500 Free Autnmn Meeting, 1922: St. Leger Stakes $ 7,500 Free Sires Produce Stakes 10,000 0 Australian Jockey Clubs Spring Meeting, 1920: Epsom Handicap 5,000 $ 5 The Metropolitan 25.000 10 Breeders Plate , 7.500 Free Gimcrack Stakes 7,500 Free Summer Meeting, 1920: December Stakes $ 7,500 Free A. J. C. Sires Produce Stakes 18,700 Free Champagne Stakes 10,000 Free Spring Meeting, 1921: A. J .C. Derby 0,000 Free Autumn Meeting, 1922: A. J. C. St, Leger 0,000 Free A. J. C. Sires Produce Stakes 20,000 0 -Tictocin-A-ujUwyr-; J,.rir Australian Hurdle Race $ 8,750 Free Australian Steeplechase 10,000 Free Debutant Stakes 7,500 Free Toorak Handicap 0.000 0 Caulfield Guineas 5,750 Free Spring Meeting, 1921: Caulfield Guineas 15,750 Free Autumn Meeting, 1921. Twenty-fourth. Caulfield Futurity. 5,000 Free Autumn Meeting, 1922: Twenty-fifth Caulfield Futurity. 5,000 Free The stake races for spring meeting of 1920 are yet to be run, the Australian spring being our autumn. The famous Melbourne Cups, a spring fixture, and run over the Flemington track at Melbourne in the first week of November. Commenting on this, the Australasian says: "There is no fee required at the time of nomination for such rich events as the A. J. C. Derby 30,000 added and Victoria Derby 5,000 added, while the first forfeit in each case not due until more than fifteen months hence is only . What owner would, with conditions so easy, deliberately miss the chance of posing as tlie possessor of a Derby candidate? There are no such easy conditions attached to the English classics. Take this years Epsom Derby. The lowest cost at which a nomination could have got out was 5, and then only seven months after the nomination." NO PROFITEERING. There is no "profiteering" spirit shown by th? leading clubs of Australia. On the contrary, the have put up prizes, but, speaking generally. Mil prices. Owners who have so many burdens i shoulder in the way of increased wages, increased cost of horse feed, and increased charges in many other directions should at least be grateful for for this consideration. The breeding of thoroughbred Jiorses shows no decline in Australia, and U is likely that all the "young" races will fill well, and the same remark applies to such important handicaps as the Melbourne Cup, Caulfield Cup and Metropolitan. The entry fee in the case of these three events is only 0 each horse, and weights can be seen for that comparatively small sum. The V. R. C. authorities have put up the value of such events as the Maribyrnong Plate, Sires Produce Stakes, St. Leger and Oaks, but the Melbourne Cup and Victoria Derby have not beau touched. The amount added to the Melbourne Cup is 5,000, and the usual trophy, of the value of 50, goes to the owner of the winner. It is still the richest race in Australia. The sweepstake is 50, which will help to further swell the prize money. A new race, the Cantala Stakes, was instituted last year by the V. R. C, and it at once "caught on." It is run in place of the Coburg Stakes on the first day of the spring meeting, the distance being a mile. The club adds 2,500. It is a race on the lines of the A. J. C. Epsom Handicap, and it is .hoped that the Cantala Stakes and the Melbourne Cup will in time become a popular double. The V. A. T. C. kept up stakes during the continuance of the war, and now increases are announced. The stakes of the Caulfield Cup has gone up to 2,500, and there is also a 00 gold cup for the owner of the winning horse. The value of the race does not so nearly approach the value of the Melbourne Cup, as the figures suggest, as owners contributions and they Juive been raised are retained by the club, whereas they are in the case of all Flemington events added to the prize money. Still, the inducement to enter for an event like the Caulfield Cup is strong. The stakes of the Australian Hurdle Race, Australian Steeplechase and Caulfield Guineas have all gone up. Already an important event, the Caulfield Guineas promises to reach a still higher level. An additional 1,000 guineas has been put on the prize money, and the cost of starting has been made no higher." Run over an easier distance than the Derby, the popularity of the event will go on increasing. The Australian Jockey Club is financially the strongest club in Australia.. It has made immense strides during the pastatwenty years and now the Australian Jockey Club Derby is by general consent the leading classic race, as the Melbourne Cup is the leading handicap, of the Commonwealth.- The club has raised its subsidy from 5,000 to 0,000, and the liberal conditions in regard to payments remain as last year. The sweepstakes ia 00. The added money of the Epsom Handicap has been lifted to 5,000, while the Metropolitan is kept at 5,000. The Australian Jockey Club Sires Produce Stakes of 1922 for which nomination of sires is now required has 0,O0t of club money attached to it. It is the richest prize for a two-year-old event ever announced by an Australian racing club. The value of the Australian Jockey Club St. Leger of 1922 has also been increased. There is a sweepstake of attached to the Willlamstown Cup, which will go to swell the value already substantial of that Important event. There is also a trophy, value 00, while a trophy value 25 and ,500 constitutes the stake of the Bendigo Cup, the distance of which event has been increased to a mile and three-eighths. There are notable Increases in the prize money of the West Australian Derby and Karrakatta Plate, and the Queensland Turf Club has made substantial additions to the Queensland Derby and St. Leger. The Adelaide events announced are on the old lines.
