Owners relieved as Auckland Trotting Club confirms its stakes will rise in the new season
By Barry Lichter • 24 July 2020
Northern trainers and owners breathed a sigh of relief today when the Auckland Trotting Club revealed its prizemoney levels for the new season which dwarf the post COVID-19 stakes.
In what could help stem the loss of further horses to Australia, the club will pay maidens a minimum stake of $12,000, the intermediate grades $14,500 and the top class $17,500.
While not as high as the $15,000, $20,000 and $25,000 stakes offered pre-COVID, they compare favourably with the present basic stake of $8500 where meetings feature only two $12,000 races for the top horses.
In a tentative programme for the first meeting of the new season at Alexandra Park on Thursday, August 6, 1700 metre free-for-alls have been carded for the top pacers and trotters worth $17,500.
ATC vice president Jamie MacKinnon said he believed the stakes had held up pretty well and he hinted the club was continuing to try to find even more money for some of its non Group race features.
“We first wanted to make sure the minimum was high enough so the majority of owners can at least win a couple of months’ training fees.
“But we are also working hard to be able to further prop up some of our features which are a bit light, races like the Spring Cup and Holmes DG. They’ve got to be at least $20,000 or $25,000 and I’m pretty sure we’ll be able to do that.”
While the club was under considerable pressure with its building project, its revenue streams were improving through rent and gaming machines, businesses which had always supported stakes and the running of its meetings.
“The ATC has always put in more money than we’ve received in funding and we will continue to do that.”
MacKinnon said it had been a long process while Harness Racing New Zealand determined what funding it needed and what should be put into Group racing but it was now all go.
The news comes in advance of any announcement from Harness Racing New Zealand which has yet to declare its new funding policy and what that means for the country’s clubs, acting CEO Phil Holden promising in a video interview on Wednesday that all would be revealed next week.
Holden apologised for the length of time it had taken HRNZ to notify people about the new stakes but explained that club funding had been overhauled to allow greater transparency.
The Auckland stakes are higher than those the New Zealand Metropolitan Club will offer for its first two Friday nights in August where the stakes range between $10,000 and $12,500 and the best two races on August 14 are worth $15,000.
Auckland programme for August 6
More news in Harness
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Ray cautions punters with no lead this time for Jekyll and Hyde colt Prince Lincoln
Two (not so) secret weapons help Lincoln Farms to $29,287 payday at Cambridge
Deb dresses her latest ‘Copy’ weanling in white and he delivers a Major coup
Our runners this week: How our trainer rates them
Ray’s comments
Friday night at Cambridge
Race 1: Spirited Belle
4.46pm
Delany: “I saw she’d been punted but somebody must know something we don’t as I’ve been working her myself and, while she feels all right and hasn’t put the boot in like at Auckland, I think she’ll need the run. She hasn’t got any high speed but feels like she will stay. She has improved a bit but I’d be surprised if she won.”
Race 1: Lincoln Maree
4.46pm
“It’s always hard from these draws but she’s a tough mare who will make her own luck at some stage. She’s going well enough - her drivers have all been happy - and she’s a little warrior who tries like hell.”
Race 2: Major Copy
5.12pm
“He’s only two and very inexperienced but he feels like a good colt and there’s a lot of improvement in him. He certainly caught a lot of people’s attention last time. I don’t know how good he is yet but he’ll be right there.”
Race 2: Prince Lincoln
5.12pm
“If he can lead without having to do too much work I can’t see anything beating him. I thought he went great last start. He pressed the winner hard ’til the corner then just flattened out in the run home, but he had every reason to do that after all the work he’d done.”
Race 4: Spirit Of God
6.12pm
“She’s been undone by bad draws. If she led easily from three she’d be hard to beat as she’s a good front-runner.”
Race 4: Spirited Peggy
6.12pm
“We’ve had her for only two weeks but she’s seven now and has had her chance to win one. She has a bit of speed but I think she gets pulling so we’ve got the Hidez (compression) hood on her and plugged her ears up.”
Race 6: Copy N Paste
7.10pm
“We won’t see the best of him for another six months. He’s been a slow developing horse but is improving all the time and getting stronger.”
Race 6: Jessie Lincoln
7.10pm
“If I was having a bet on one of them in the race it would be her. She deserves to win one. Her last two have been really good - she just ran into one who was a bit slicker last time in Major Copy.”
Race 6: Lincoln Dealer
7.10pm
“He’s a bit one-dimensional - you’ve got to feed him track and let him run - so the second row draw is a big handicap. To his credit I was surprised he finished so close last time after all the work he did. When he gets a decent draw and crosses them they’ll know they’re at the races. He’s got a big motor and tries hard.”
Race 8: Rivergirl Bella
8.08pm
“She clawed her way to the front last time but had nothing left at the finish. That won’t happen this time and she should lead easily from one.”
Race 8: Angelic Copy
8.08pm
“She’s had terrible draws but has been going good races. The others last time were just better than her but this is a big drop in class. With the right trip she could get some of it at huge odds.”
Race 9: Sugar Ray Lincoln
8.35pm
“He’s not quick away from a stand but he won’t muff it completely. He steps from the front line and Peter Ferguson was quite happy with his last run.”
Race 9: Lincoln Wave
8.35pm
“He bombed the stand the first time but to be fair all those horses were rushing up at him from the back and that panicked him a bit. He’s on 10 metres this time so that won’t happen.”
