Sydney has a new horse race, one of the "top-five richest turf races in the world" -- the A$7.5M ($5.45M) Golden Eagle, for four-year-olds on Nov. 2, according to Brendan Cormick of THE AUSTRALIAN. The race will be held at Rosehill "and the funding mechanism is to be announced later -- reference having been made to a joint-venture funding opportunity." The Golden Eagle will form the third leg of the Golden Slam -- joining the Golden Slipper for two-year-olds and the Golden Rose for three-year-olds. In addition, 10% of prize money (A$750,000/$545,000) will go to charities nominated by connections of the placegetters. It will be the second-richest horse race in Australia, behind The Everest. Racing NSW Chair Russell Balding said, "The Golden Eagle is the first feature race on the Australian Racing Calendar exclusively for four-year-old horses" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 12/5).
COME TOGETHER: Cormick also reported Racing Victoria CEO Giles Thompson took "a swipe at the lack of collaboration between the states" after the announcement of the Golden Eagle, viewed as "Sydney’s latest intrusion into Melbourne’s Spring Carnival." The unveiling of the Golden Eagle, and two other million-dollar races, "prompted Thompson to challenge the merits of the new events." Thompson said, "The marquee events of the Spring Racing Carnival have been built over more than 150 years and retain an important place in the heart of Australians. This announcement is not going to change that. ... It would be in the best interests of Australian racing if we could act more collaboratively as a nation to achieve this and ensure that we are in fact growing the overall fan base" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 12/5).
