FIVE NEW LISTED RACES BOOST BRITAIN’S ALL WEATHER RACE PROGRAMME

10 Sep 2007 Pre-2014 Releases

• Greater opportunities for horses in training during the winter to collect valuable Black Type
• Six Listed races introduced to the All Weather Track programme in spring 2007 have proved successful

Advances in Britain’s All Weather Track programme were underlined today with the formation of five new Listed races in November and December 2007.

All five contests will form significant Black Type opportunities during the winter All Weather programme, and are set to be staged at Kempton Park and Lingfield Park.

The development of the new races comes on the back of the success of the six new Listed races which were introduced in the spring of 2007, with all but one race comfortably exceeding the rating parameters required for Listed race status, as well as attracting eight or more runners.

Britain’s All Weather Tracks were invited to apply to stage one or more of the new races by the British Horseracing Authority, whose Development Fund – funded by surplus funds generated in the Fixture Bidding Process, and designed to support races that fulfil a particular race planning role – will be contributing a proportion of the prize money for each race.

Full details of the new races, which are also included in Volume 4 of the 2007 Programme Book, published earlier this month and covering all races from 1st October to 31st December inclusive, are as follows:

Date Racecourse Race Age Distance
24/11 Lingfield Park The Golden Rose Stakes 3yo+ 6f
28/11 Kempton Park The Hyde Stakes 3yo+ 1m
01/12 Kempton Park The Wild Flower 3yo+ 1m 4f
19/12 Kempton Park The Sunbury Stakes 3yo+ 7f
22/12 Lingfield Park The Quebec Stakes 3yo+ 1m 2f

British Horseracing Authority Racing Director Ruth Quinn said: “It remains a key aim to develop, over time, a programme to encourage owners to keep quality horses in training in Britain during the winter months, and this becomes ever more important with the advances of synthetic surfaces across the world, as seen in the United States and more recently at Dundalk. A long-term aim would be for Britain to include races on this surface at the highest level, but we are taking one step at a time.”