Its stake level was already pre-determined because of the contribution from slot holders in a thre-year commitment but NZTR will review the conditions and possibly even the future viability of the slot race after this season.
If it does exist past 2027 it looks certain to be for significantly less than its record stake this season.
That means New Zealand’s only two $1m-plus Group 1 races of any code will both be on Champions Day at Ellerslie on March 6.
There is also has the $1m Karaka Million for two-year-olds and $1.5m Karaka Million for three-year-olds run in late January while the Aotearoa Classic was run for $1m for four-year-olds the last two seasons but at Group 3 level and NZTR will not release the stakes for Group 3s until next week.
Among other reductions are the Railway from $700,000 to $650,000, the Zabeel Classic from $500,000 to $450,000, the Herbie Dyke at Te Rapa from $600,000 to $550,000 and the BCD Sprint from $500,000 to $450,000.
A range of other Group 1s held in the $500,000 to $600,000 range last season reduce to $500,000 or even $450,000 in the case of the Otaki-Maori Mile and the Sires’ Produce.
The exact stakes for remaining black type races are set to be announced next week.
The cuts mean New Zealand racing has four less $1m races than last season between the two codes, with Harness Racing New Zealand having already announced the NZ Cup falls from $1m to $800,000 while the $1m pacing slot race at Cambridge is no more.
Two of the innovation races, the Wairere Falls Classic and Karapiro Classic will no longer be held.
“These decisions protect the foundation of our racing programme, provide participants with clarity for the season ahead and target reductions where we believe they can be best absorbed,” said NZTR’s general manager of racing Mitch Lamb.
Wet tracks return
Punters could be forgiven for feeling that Saturday is the lull between two highs.
While the Foxbridge Plate was held on a Soft 6 at Te Rapa last Saturday – and the Proisir Plate will kick off the Group 1 season on what will almost certainly be a Soft 5-6 next Saturday – both Saturday’s domestic meetings look likely to be held on heavy tracks.
Whanganui hasn’t budged from a Heavy 10 all week for their Guineas meeting, the 3-year-old feature very open and likely coming down to who handles the track, with Whanganui one of the tracks most fitting the “horses for courses” theory.
Riccarton sees a strong Te Akau presence, with some of the best northern jockeys riding, but went from a Soft 7 to a Heavy 9 on Thursday.
“We have a lovely day today [Friday} so are hoping the wind comes up and we can get back to a Heavy 8,” says Riccarton boss Tim Mills.
Across the Tasman, the New Zealand focus will be on Caulfield, where last season’s Vinery Stakes winner and NZB Kiwi runner-up Belle Cheval returns in a Group 3 at 4.20pm NZ time and stablemate Seize The Day in a Group 3 at 5.30pm NZ time.
That leads into two of New Zealand’s favourite ex-pat equines Mr Brightside and Jimmysstar in the A$750,000 ($906,000) Memsie Stakes over 1400m at 6.10pm NZ time.
Superstar withdrawn
The market for New Zealand’s richest trotting race has been thrown wide open with the shock withdrawal of Australia’s champion trotter Keayang Zahara.
The last-start winner of the TAB Trot slot race at Cambridge in April, Keayang Zahara pulled up with a hind leg issue after trackwork on Wednesday and will need six to eight weeks out of work.
That rules out of not only the $400,000 Dominion, for which she was the $1.50 favourite, at Addington on November 10, but the remainder of the season.
Her place at the top of the market will be taken by Dominion defending champion Gus.
Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.