\u201cThey\u2019ve all got great leaders and good people involved, and to share in that experience is great for our clubs, but also great to help grow a new sporting event in New Zealand and Auckland,\u201d said George.<\/p>\n
Auckland FC CEO Nick Becker said there was no shortage of racing fans at the club. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s definitely a couple of the Aussie boys in the team who love it.<\/p>\n
\u201dIt\u2019s a bit of a national way of life over there. But across the coaching group, some of the players, myself, the team in the head office, we\u2019re all big racing fans. We\u2019re keen to get along there and it\u2019s a big race day, so it\u2019s exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n
New Blues CEO Karl Budge was delighted to see the three codes associate in this way, pointing out that the more people that attend live sport in the isthmus, the better it is for everyone. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it comes to backing something that\u2019s great for Auckland sport and our fans, we\u2019re absolutely on the same team,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe NZB Kiwi has quickly become one of the standout events on the sporting calendar, and our players and staff are excited to be part of it. It\u2019s a unique blend of sport, entertainment and atmosphere that really captures what Auckland does best.\u201d<\/p>\n
The NZB Kiwi was launched in 2025, with most of the 14 slots available for runners in the race going via auction for around $700,000. The 14th and final slot is held back each year by NZ Thoroughbred Racing, to be used for promotional purposes, which is 2026 will be the new People\u2019s Horse concept. <\/p>\n
New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing CEO Matt Ballesty is proud of the innovation. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt puts racing in front of passionate sporting fans and invites them to be part of the action on the biggest stage,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe NZB Kiwi is already the biggest race on our calendar, and it\u2019s a great example of how our sport can grow by bringing people together.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a lucrative event. Aside from the $1.2 million bounty for first, second place is worth $600,000, while even the sixth to 14th places will all claim $125,000. <\/p>\n
The \u201cFooty, Fillies & Fans\u201d weekend will kick off with the Warriors, who launch their NRL campaign against the Sydney Roosters on the Friday. <\/p>\n
On Saturday afternoon, the NZB Kiwi is the highlight of Auckland Thoroughbred Racing\u2019s \u201cChampions Day\u201d that also includes three group one races and the Auckland Cup. The Blues then host the Crusaders in the fourth round of Super Rugby Pacific on the Saturday night, before Auckland take on Perth Glory on the Sunday afternoon, a match that will have added spice given last weekend\u2019s defeat in Western Australia. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThey\u2019ve all got great leaders and good people involved, and to share in that experience is great for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268792,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[145033,95,51,3952,1863,6326,33339,8231,26845,115233,14568,78,194,111,139,69,152667,17445,46453,213,1130,199,1529,61,141952,145271,3006,2963],"class_list":["post-268791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-4m","tag-and","tag-auckland","tag-aucklands","tag-back","tag-biggest","tag-blues","tag-event","tag-fc","tag-franchises","tag-horse","tag-in","tag-kiwi","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-nzb","tag-richest","tag-sporting","tag-sports","tag-stake","tag-take","tag-three","tag-to","tag-unite","tag-uniting","tag-warriors","tag-zealands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}