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Letter of the Week

Upgrades on the cheap

I see that the Memsie, Makybe Diva and Moir Stakes, which were all recently upgraded to Group 1 status, are to have prizemoney of $350,000 each, which is rock-bottom for a Group 1 race.

It appears that the Australian Pattern Committee, a body of people who seem intent on creating a ridiculous number of Group 1s, is causing problems for the race clubs, because the clubs are struggling to come up with Group 1 prizemoney.

An odd thing about the Makybe Diva Stakes, formerly the Craiglee, is that nine years ago, when it was a Group 2 race, its prizemoney was $500,000.

Strange, isn’t it, that now it’s a Group 1 it’s down to $350,000.

Of course, we all know that the Victoria Racing Club is struggling to find the $6 million for what it would like to think is the world championship for stayers, the Melbourne Cup. It has reduced the prizemoney for so many black-type races that it’s not funny.

One race that has been spared, though, is the $1 million Mackinnon Stakes, one of the most dubious races on the calendar. However, nobody seems fazed by that. It’s been going on forever.

Hugh Fraser
Frankston South (Vic)
Today's Racing
Friday 29 March
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