The revised programme is designed to ensure a better flow of feature races, increased opportunities for trainers and added earlier incentives to get the juvenile programme under way. In terms of Gold Circle’s commitment to the Graded Races Standing Committee’s minimum stakes criteria guidelines, certain of the Grade 1, Grade 2 and Listed races have enjoyed stakes increases. For the duration of the season, a feature race has also been scheduled every weekend to maintain the momentum and public interest.

 

The Juvenile feature race programme has been restructured and sees two new races in the R100 000 Sentinel Stakes and the R100 000 King’s Pact Stakes (Fillies), which will be run at Clairwood over 1000m on Wednesday 4 March and Sunday 8 March respectively. The Grade 3 Godolphin Barb Stakes and the Grade 3 Strelitizia Stakes (Fillies), both previously run over 1200m, will now be contested over 1000m at Clairwood on 1 April.

 

The Grade 2 Umkomazi Stakes and the Grade 2 Debutante will now be run on Sunday 3 May at Scottsville over 1200m – these two races were previously run over 1400m one week after the Grade 1’s at the end of May. They will now form an integral part of the build-up to the Grade 1 Gold Reef Resorts Medallion and the Grade 1 Allan Robertson Fillies Championship, both of which will, as previously, be run at the Golden Horse Casino Raceday on the last Saturday of May.

 

Two brand new races, the R120 000 Gatecrasher Stakes and the R120 000 Devon Air Stakes for fillies, have been scheduled to be run at Clairwood over 1450m on Saturday 13 June. These races are strategically placed two weeks after the Golden Horse Raceday and three weeks prior to the Grade 1 Golden Horseshoe and Grade 1 Golden Slipper for fillies, which will be run at Greyville on Vodacom Durban July day.

 

Champions day has lost two feature races as the Gold Circle Derby and the Gold Circle Oaks will now be run at Clairwood on Saturday 27 June and no longer at the end of July, while the KZN Guineas (now the KRA Guineas) moves back into a May slot. A new race, the R120 000 In Full Flight Handicap, will be run over 1000m at the Greyville night meeting on Friday 8 May, as a supporting feature to the Drill Hall Stakes. This new race is designed to give sprinters an alternate lead-up opportunity to the Golden Horse Casino Sprint run three weeks later, bearing in mind that the WFA Computaform Sprint is run at Turffontein on Saturday 25 April.

 

The 1900m Darley Arabian will now be run as a race restricted to four year olds at Greyville on Canon Gold Cup day, which is three weeks after the KZN Breeders 1600m, which has been moved to July from its original slot in May.