APG is thrilled to announce a number of major enhancements to its race series that will see an additional $600,000 injected into the Ladbrokes APG Race Series.
This massive prizemoney injection has been made possible through a combination of APG’s strong performance over the last few years, combined with APG’s exciting partnership with Ladbrokes.
Key features of the new Race Series
- APG will run a 2yo Series and a 3yo Series – both to be conducted in the same April/May timeslot, with separate divisions for colts and fillies;
- Horses will contest heats, leading directly into $350,000 2yo Finals, or $210,000 3yo Finals;
- All finals will be conducted at the same venue on the same night, creating a massive $1.12 million payday for APG owners.
New Championship Races
- In addition to the main Ladbrokes APG Race Series, APG will conduct a total of 12 end of season Ladbrokes APG Championship Races ( 6 x 2yo races and 6 x 3yo races), each worth $50,000;
- To be conducted in July, APG will schedule separate colts & fillies divisions in Melbourne and Sydney, whilst Brisbane & Perth will each host a $50,000 mixed sex race (PBD/Sex);
- Horses that compete in the Group One Race Series Finals for a particular age group will not be eligible to compete in the Championship Races for that same age group.
Importantly, the addition of the $50,000 Group Two Championship Races (with all runners guaranteed minimum prizemoney of $2,000) ensures a strong spread of prizemoney across a broad number of horses, as these races will not be open to horses that contested the Group One Race Series Finals in May.
In addition, APG’s ability to schedule the Championship Races late in the season makes them ideal targets for the slightly later maturing two-year-olds, or for those two or three-year-olds that were otherwise unavailable for the Group One Finals in May.
When will the Enhancements come into Effect?
The newly announced enhancements will come into effect commencing with the yearlings catalogued for the 2018 Ladbrokes APG Yearling Sales.
Sustaining Payments
A single set of sustaining payments will cover horses for both the 2yo and 3yo Series plus the Championship Races. Failure to make any of the below payments will mean that the horse immediately ceases to be eligible for all aspects of the 2yo and 3yo Series and Championship Races.
Sustaining Schedule
Sales Day: $700 (inc GST)
1 June: $700 (inc GST)
1 September: $700 (inc GST)
1 December: $1,250 (inc GST)
Alternatively, buyers can make a one-off payment of $2,750 on sales day that will see their horse fully eligible for both the 2yo and 3yo Series plus Championship Races.
Gold Bonuses
As a result of the introduction of the 3yo Series and Championship Races, APG's Gold Bonus system will
cease to operate commencing with 2018 sales yearlings.
However, all horses that would previously have won a Gold Bonus are almost certain to qualify for the end of season Championship Races which guarantee all runners a minimum $2,000 in prizemoney, with plenty of upside potential for those that manage to feature at the pointy end of the Championship Races.
The Championship Races also proivide opportunities for vendors to add the title of "Group Two producer" to their broodmares, and add valuable dollars to their mares' progeny.
Importantly, the $600,000 prizemoney injection is over and above the combined value of the previous race series and gold bonus scheme, and the structure of the new system will ensure a far broader distribution of prizemoney, with a significantly greater proportion going to the second tier horses, compared to the old system which more strongly favoured the elite runners.
Further Details
Further details surrounding the qualification procedures, prize money splits, rotation schedule and all other aspects of the revamped Ladbrokes APG Race Series and Championship Races can be found under the Race Series menu on the APG website.
