- This topic has 7 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 19 years ago by
.
- Posts
<br>Back in the days when the Derby was run on Wednesday and the Oaks on Saturday, the feature of the Friday card was the Northern Dancer Handicap over 12F.
Epsom still have a 12F handicap, but it’s a 0-100 worth £40,000 and as it’s run immediately after the Derby, it gets about as much attention as a non league match on Cup Final day.
And despite the fact that 12F is still the ultimate classic distance in this country, nowhere in the program is there a really valuable 12F heritage handicap to match those on offer at other distances.
If you list the handicaps worth £100k or more by distance, you have at least the following :
6F – Stewards Cup, Ayr Gold Cup
7F – Totesport International (Ascot)
8F – Lincoln, Hunt Cup, Golden Mile (Goodwood)
9F – Cambridgeshire
10F – John Smiths (York and Newbury)
14F – Ebor
16F – Northumberland Plate
18F – Chester Cup, Cesarewitch.
I may have missed one or two, but the gap at 12F is a glaring one. Indeed, I wonder how many people on here could actually name the 12F handicap with the most prize money during the season?
Seems to me there’s a big opening here for an ambitious track and a sponsor to introduce a suitable race – the King George meeting at Ascot looks an ideal spot in the program and a £150k race on the Sunday would liven up an otherwise ordinary card without damaging the big race.
Other options would be Newmarket July course around the same period of late July, early August – a chance to invest some of their enormous pop concert earnings – or Goodwood, who have a race over the trip, but restricted to 3-y-olds.
AP
Alan,
Is there not already a hot 12f handicap at the King George meeting that could be upgraded?
Think you’ve covered everything there AP, is the 3yo one at Goodwood the one with most prize money.
<br>Sorry, I forgot to provide the answer to my own question – the most valuable all aged 12F handicap is the Old Newton Cup at Haydock run on the first Saturday in July.
Last year it was worth £85,000, but it’s not a race that in any way rivals most of those listed above in yerms of publicity or prestige. It suffers from being staged on the same day as the Eclipse, so that Haydock isn’t even the main meeting of the day.
The race Smithy refers to was run on the Friday of the King George meeting, in 2006 called the National Bank of Dubai Heritage Handicap, worth £75,000. It was won by Young Mick, but only 11 ran.
AP
The one at the King George meeting is a Heritage Handicap but surprisingly is only worth 65K. As far as I can see (I’ve cheated and looked it up) the two most valuable 12f handicaps of the year are the 3yos only race at Goodwood mentioned by Yeats and the Old Newton Cup at Haydock, both worth 85K.
The real speedsters also appear to get a raw deal as well – the Vodafone Dash (worth 75K) and the Hong Kong Jockey Club Sprint (worth 70K) are the only two handicaps over 5f which have a value of more than 50K.
(Posted at the same time, I think, AP!)
(Edited by Happy Jack at 2:07 pm on June 4, 2007)
There’s the Duke of Edinburgh Stakes at Royal Ascot…won by Young Mick last season. Only worth about £40k though I think.
- Total Posts 17716
Quote: from Black Sam Bellamy on 2:11 pm on June 4, 2007[br]There’s the Duke of Edinburgh Stakes at Royal Ascot…won by Young Mick last season. Only worth about £40k though I think.
The Old Newton Cup at Haydock is an all-aged handicap worth considerably more than that, as I recall?<br>And, of course, Doncaster’s November Handicap.
(Edited by reet hard at 2:25 pm on June 4, 2007)
Sorry, AP, just spotted your 2nd post.:cool:
(Edited by reet hard at 2:27 pm on June 4, 2007)
<br>RH,
The last November handicap at Doncaster (2005) only offered £60k total prize money.
I’m sure it used to be worth relatively more than that going further back – and there also used a decent prize for the Tote Festival Handicap on the Sunday of the Ascot QEII meeting, but that’s also been reduced in value in recent years.
AP
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.