Craven Stakes to be backed by Racing Post Breeze Up Bonus
Wednesday 10th March, 2010
One of Newmarket’s leading Classic trials has a new sponsor this year. The Group Three Racing Post breezeupbonus.com Craven Stakes, run on Newmarket’s Rowley Mile on Thursday, 15th April, is being backed by sales consignors who are offering owners a big incentive to purchase a two-year-old in the coming weeks.
The Breeze Up Bonus Scheme, sponsored by the Racing Post, carries a prize fund of up to £500,000 for graduates of six different two-year-old breeze up sales in Britain, Ireland and France.
The scheme offers a £5,000 bonus paid out on a ‘first come, first served’ basis to eligible winners from the 2010 breeze up sales. A horse can win up to two of the bonuses, so a total of £10,000, until the total fund has been fully claimed.
The scheme is funded by both the breeze up vendors, who will put in £500 per horse, and the sales companies who will contribute £150 for each two-year-old.
The breezeupbonus.com Craven Stakes coincides with the Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up Sale, which takes place after racing on 14th and 15th April, and from which graduates last year included Grade One Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner Vale Of York and Passion For Gold, who landed the Group One Criterium de Saint-Cloud.
The Tattersalls Craven Breeze Up Sale is one of six sales from which graduates will be eligible for the Racing Post Breeze Up Bonus Scheme.
The other sales are the Goffs Breeze Up at Kempton Park this Friday (12th March), the DBS Breeze Up at Doncaster on 20th-21st April, the Tattersalls Guineas Breeze Up at Newmarket on 29th-30th April, the Arqana Breeze Up at Saint-Cloud in France on 15th May and the Goresbridge Breeze Up in Ireland on 21st May.
The Racing Post breezeupbonus.com Craven Stakes traditionally attracts some of the best three-year-old Classic aspirants to Newmarket and last year’s race was won by Delegator, who went on to finish second to Sea The Stars in the Stan James-sponsored 2000 Guineas.
The 2008 contest was won by Twice Over, who went on to win last season’s Group One Emirates Airline Champion Stakes at Newmarket.
The Racing Post breezeupbonus.com Craven Stakes was previously sponsored by the County Tipperary-based Bansha House Stables of consignor Con Marnane, who is a member of the Racing Post Breeze Up Bonus Scheme committee.
Marnane said today: “We first put together the Breeze Up Bonus Scheme last year as a self-help initiative in these economically testing times and it proved a great incentive for buyers. We hope that this year’s scheme of up to £500,000 will again encourage owners to invest in a two-year-old at the upcoming sales.
“This new sponsorship provides a great shop winner for the Racing Breeze Up Bonus Scheme during a high-profile sale and we hope that many of the two-year-olds sold this year prove good enough to line up in the 2011 Racing Post breezeupbonus.com Craven Stakes.”
Michael Prosser, Director of Racing at Newmarket Racecourses, commented: “This is a great initiative and an excellent example of the racing industry assisting itself.
“We look forward to welcoming our sponsors along with their guests and are confident that the Racing Post breezeupbonus.com Craven Stakes will once again be a high-class and informative race.”