VRC Wants Seasonal Finale Purses Boosted

Leading administrator Leigh Jordan, executive general manager for the Victoria Racing Club, believes that the Winter Carnival final meeting at Flemington should carry minimum $200,000 prizemoney per race. Although the Winter Series, run across seven weeks, is already successful, Jordan told racenet.com.au, “It’d be great to have all the races on that day worth a minimum of $200,000 and over so that it is a real focal point of our winter racing.” The current prizemoney for this year’s final on 3 July is worth an aggregate $1.4 million, headed by three feature events – the Winter Championship (1600m), Taj Rossi (1600m) and Mahogany Challenge (2500m) – that are each worth $160,000. The VRC is seeking the imprimatur of Racing Victoria for the across the board increases to occur. Jordan said, “Increasing the prizemoney across the day, so that the heats lead into finals that are worth a lot more, it gives horses through that period a real focus… If they’re (RV) thinking about boosting prizemoney it’s a day I think they should [consider] in winter.”