Stake Increase for Staying Feature
The countdown is on to the 2500 metres Redwood Great Autumn Handicap to be held at Riccarton Park Racecourse on Saturday 6 May 2017.
With the support of Stirling Bloodstock and Westbury Stud this year’s running has had a 50% increase in stakemoney and will now carry a stake of $60,000. Stake money is shared back to tenth placing with horses finishing sixth to tenth each receiving $1,000.
This places the value of the race midway between the industry levels of a Listed Stakes race ($50,000) and a Group 3 race at $70,000. In fact only four flat races remain this season, all of them Group or Listed, which will provide greater stakemoney.
The goal of both the sponsor and the Canterbury Jockey Club being to promote the staying race and the horses that New Zealand traditionally breeds and to see the Great Autumn Handicap return to the Listed status that it once commanded.
The race will conclude a pattern of southern staying races that commenced with the Open Handicap over 2000 metres at Riccarton Park on Saturday 8 April then the $60,000 Carriers Arms Hotel Riverton Cup on Saturday 15 April and the $100,000 Coca-Cola Canterbury Gold Cup last Saturday. The $25,000 Marlborough Cup is over 1950 metres this Sunday 30 April 2017 and leads into the inaugural running of the $60,000 ‘Redwood Great Autumn Handicap’.
Redwood stands at Westbury Stud with the son of High Chaparral having made a very promising start to his stud career including Rising Red, 2nd in this seasons Vodafone New Zealand Derby.
The Rebecca Black Trust will be a beneficiary of the stake increase with the difference between the acceptance fee of a $40,000 race, being the stake of the race last year, and the acceptance fee of the $60,000 stake which applies this year being donated to the Rebecca Black Trust.
