2013 Chariots Of Fire winner and defending Miracle Mile champion Christen Me.
NEW conditions were made for the next running of the SEW-Eurodrive Miracle Mile Carnival by the New South Wales Harness Racing Club Board on Saturday afternoon (June 6).
Whilst the conditions have changed, the dates for the Carnival remain the same from those announced in September last year.
At that time, the Inter Dominion Event Committee (IDEC), comprised of members of Harness Racing Australia (HRA) and Harness Racing New Zealand (HRNZ), facilitated a swap of dates between the Perth Inter Dominion and the Miracle Mile Carnival.
Thus it was then confirmed that the 2016 Miracle Mile Carnival would run on the same three weekends that the Sydney Inter Dominion Carnival had raced on for the previous three years.
The dates of Saturday February 13, Saturday February 20 and Sunday February 28 at Tabcorp Park Menangle, were then confirmed with HRA and announced to all its members at a meeting last October.
Meanwhile, as part of the new conditions for the Miracle Mile, there will be no early invitations given.
Instead, the final field will be comprised of invitees from qualifying races held at Tabcorp Park Menangle on February 13.
There will be two $200,000 sprints held on this night, the Cordina Sprint and the Coca-Cola Amatil Sprint, and the first two placegetters from each will receive an automatic invitation to the Miracle Mile.
NSWHRC Chief Executive, Bruce Christison, explained that this move ensures that all Miracle Mile contenders will be on an even playing field.
“In recent years the Coca-Cola Amatil Sprint had been held two weeks prior to the Miracle Mile and the Cordina Sprint had been held one week prior, and also invitations would be issued over a four-to-five week
period,” he said.
“As a result, connections of horses contesting the Cordina Sprint would often complain that these horses would have a reduced chance of being competitive in the Miracle Mile.”
The move away from the recent method of invitations has in part been brought about by the change of dates.
In past editions, the previous winner of the Miracle Mile would receive an invitation providing their current form warranted an invitation, however, in this case there will be a gap of 15 months from the last Miracle Mile.
There had also been a condition to enable horses with a campaign challenged by the location to receive an early invitation.
This condition was primarily based on the New Zealand Cup and once again this is no longer an issue.
The other significant change in conditions is the decision to offer an invitation to the winner of the Chariots Of Fire.
This four-year-old Group One has featured on Inter Dominion Grand Final Day for the past three years and the NSWHRC Directors have decided to add another element to the Miracle Mile selection mix by moving the Chariots Of Fire to February 13 and offering the connections of the best four-year-olds the opportunity to contest Australasia’s richest sprint, the Miracle Mile.
NSWHRC CEO, Bruce Christison, acknowledged that connections would have varying ideas on the prospect of four-year-olds contesting the Miracle Mile.
“This will be a decision for each connection and there will be no obligation to take the run,” he said.
“It must be remembered that the later timing of the race will mean these horses are midway through their four-year-old season whereas in previous years they would have been closer to the start.”
The remainder of the Miracle Mile field will be invited from horses that have contested the two sprints and the Chariots Of Fire.
Invitations would most likely come from the two sprints, however, the conditions allow for an additional invitation from the Chariots Of Fire.
Conditions will also allow for a ‘wild card’ to come from outside of these three races if exceptional circumstance could be proven.
This is to prevent a situation like last year’s Inter Dominion where Christen Me was unable to contest the heats and therefore was missing from the Final.
The NSWHRC is confident that these conditions will provide an even playing field for all horses looking to contest the Club’s premier event.
In a very congested feature race calendar it is important to ensure we attract all available elite horses.
For further information, please contact NSWHRC CEO Bruce Christison on (02) 4645 2200.
