Gaming insights Gaming

Sydney to host world’s richest turf race

Written by Ben Blaschke

Sydney is set to play host to the richest turf race in the world with the announcement of “The Everest.”

The 1,200-metre sprint will be held at Royal Randwick in October and will boast a huge AU$10 million prize pool. The winner would take home AU$5.8 million – almost as much as the entire AU$6.2 million prize pool of Australia’s most famous race, the Melbourne Cup.

“Australia leads the world in sprint races, we’ve gone over to Ascot and beaten the best in the world,” said Racing NSW chief executive Peter V’Landys. “The 1,200 metres is our pet distance here in Australia … Black Caviar went to Ascot and won over 1,200 metres.

“It’s about time these horses started coming to Australia rather than us going to England to prove ourselves.”

Owners can purchase one of 12 three-year slots in the race for AU$600,000 with which they can either enter one of their own horses or partner with another owner instead.