ATC play for even bigger stakes
Auckland club want minimum stakes to rise over next four to five years to an unheard-of $30,000 a race
Just months after announcing some of the largest stake increases in harness racing history, the Auckland Trotting Club has decided they are not big enough.
So the home of northern harness racing has decided to hit harder and sooner, with an ambitious plan to nearly double stakes inside four years.
The club was planning on a major stake boost at the start of the 2018-2019 season, 13 months away, but that has been brought forward to the start of next season, August 1.
The club will pour $1.3 million more into stakes next season, meaning no race at Alexandra Park next year will be for less than $12,000.
That is already the benchmark for most grades of races, but the club has often run two conditioned races on the card as it has struggled for horse numbers, with those run at a lesser stake.
“But they will go up to $12,000 now too, so basically a normal Friday night meeting next season will see a stakes range from $12,000 to 17,000,” says club president Bruce Carter.
On top of that, HRNZ will pay a $1500 bonus to all maiden winners, meaning a maiden win at Alexandra Park next season will be worth at least $7500.
“We are also putting $90,000 into boosting some of the group two and three races, particularly races like the National Trot and Trotting Derby, because owners have rightly suggested the trotters deserve more respect.”
Though a $1.3m boost to a $12,000 minimum across the board sounds great, it is what happens next that will make the club the envy of harness administrators around the country.
The following season the club will boost stakes again by $40,000 per meeting, or on average $4000 per race, with the possibility they could do the same again the season after.
“We will go to the $12,000 minimum for all races in a few weeks but the $40,000 per meeting will come on top of that the next season when we see completion of the first of our real estate developments,” said Carter. “The board have agreed to spending a chunk of that money on stakes so we will just need to work out how we do that.”
With maidens worth $12,000, a $4000 boot would take them to $16,000, unheard of anywhere in Australasia.
But that could cause a somewhat welcome problem in that any horse winning a race worth more than $14,999 gets a metropolitan penalty in Australia, meaning if Alexandra Park maidens go to $15,000 they could make winners harder to sell.
“So we will look at that: it might be maidens rise to $14,999 and then most other grades to $18,000 or even $20,000,” said Carter.
“We are aware of concerns about the export market but we want to make stakes so good owners don’t want to sell their horses.”
Carter said the $20,000 base stake for anything but maidens was realistic in two years as the club continued its property developments and if the NZ Racing Board was able to deliver forecast increases in profit from better betting platforms and the Race Fields legislation.
NZRB and ATC board member Rod Croon said the two increased revenue streams together — TAB funding and the huge property devel- opments at Alexandra Park — should see stake increases for four years running.
“There are economic factors that have to pan out the way they are expected, but if they do our dream goal is to have every Friday night race at Alexandra Park in four years worth around $30,000,” said Croon. “That’s realistic on the figures we are working on.”
Though the increased stakes will start to rival the best galloping stakes, the club has upset some trainers by deciding to do away with the $150 per starter fee paid to them, though owners will still be guaranteed up to 2 per cent of the stake for starters who finish down the track.
“The overwhelming opinion from owners we spoke to is they wanted money to go into stakes,” said Carter.
“So we are pouring as much money as we can into stakes, to attract owners, which can only help trainers and make the industry more sustainable.”