The announcement by the Melbourne Racing Club that the winner of the 2013 Centrebet Mornington Cup will be exempt from that year’s Group 1 $2.5m BMW Caulfield Cup (2400m) at Caulfield was the major initiative promoting Mornington Cup day.
From next year, the Listed Centrebet Mornington Cup (2400m) will carry prizemoney of $350,000 as well as providing the winner a free passage into the Melbourne Racing Club showpiece race, the Caulfield Cup.
The Melbourne Racing Club and the Mornington Racing Club merged in 2010 and the benefits have been only positive with the Club boasting a ‘Million Dollar’ Mornington Cup day next year promoting the Cup as Australia’s most lucrative country cup.
“We believe that ours was already the strongest racing club in Australia, and this only reinforces that claim,” Melbourne Racing Club Chairman Mike Symons said.
“The Melbourne Racing Club is underpinned by a desire to provide our members and stakeholders, as well as participants and punters, with unparalleled standards in our racing product and associated services. The increase in prize money to the Centrebet Mornington Cup, and across the entire day, serves to satisfy that desire.”
“It should also make the Cup, notwithstanding the BMW Caulfield Cup ballot exemption, an even more appealing race for trainers across the country, where the richest country cups peak at around half of the Mornington Cup in prize money value.”
The Mornington Racing Club has also seen the benefit of offering first class prizemoney with the $250,000 Inglis Premier for two year olds being upgraded to Restricted Listed status.
The Inglis Premier will continue to attract high quality two year olds after this year’s winner Snitzerland went on to be beaten half a length by Pierro in the Group 1 $3.5m AAMI Golden Slipper (1200m) at Rosehill.
As well as gaining prestige as a racing venue throughout Victoria and Australia, the Mornington racecourse is considered to be one of the Mornington Peninsula’s premier entertainment facilities.
“The improvements to the quality of racing and facilities at Mornington Racecourse have been immeasurable in the past couple of years, and the course is now considered by many to be the Mornington Peninsula’s premier entertainment venue,” Mornington Racing Club Advisory Group Chairman, Tony Hancy said.
