Phumelela has revamped its Summer-Autumn Feature Season from February through April next year and the new-look season includes both a Triple Crown open to all three-year-olds and a Triple Tiara for three-year-old fillies, which collectively will carry bonuses totalling nearly R4 million.

The Triple Crown will span eight weeks with total prize money of R4.5 million. It will comprise the Gauteng Guineas over 1600m on Saturday 28 February (stake R1 million), the SA Classic over 1800m on Saturday 28 March (stake R2 million) and the SA Derby over 2450m on Saturday 25 April (stake R1.5 million).

In addition to the prize money for the individual legs of the series, there will be a R2-million bonus for a horse winning all three legs as well as a bonus of R500 000 for the horse scoring the most points across the three legs. Horses must run in all three legs to qualify for the bonus with points being scored as follows: 10 for first; 7 for second; 5 for third and 3 and for fourth.

The three legs of the Triple Tiara for fillies will be run on the same days as the corresponding Triple Crown legs with the series comprising the Gauteng Fillies Guineas over 1600m (stake R500 000), the SA Fillies Classic over 1800m (stake R1 million) and the SA Oaks over 2450m (stake R750 000). The Triple Tiara will carry a R1 million bonus for a filly winning all three legs, as well as a R250 000 bonus for the filly who amasses the most points over the three legs.

“The Triple Crown was introduced by Phumelela in 1999 and was a huge success with Horse Chestnut winning the inaugural series and pocketing the then bonus of R1 million. Unfortunately, after only a few years the Triple Crown was done away with in favour of national championships, but in conjunction with the Racing Association we are bringing it back bigger and better from next year,” said Robert Garner, Phumelela’s General Manager Marketing and Communications.

“The aim is to make three-year-olds the focal point of the season and together with the Racing Association we want to build both the Triple Crown and the Triple Tiara into mega events going forward. We believe this will benefit horseracing and the breed in all respects, including enhancing the enjoyment of horseracing fans and going a long way to persuading owners of top horses to race their charges in South Africa as three-year-olds and only campaign them internationally as four-year-olds,” Garner added.

As has been the case since 1999, Champions Day will provide a grand finale to the season at the end of April. The final legs of both the Triple Crown and the Fillies Triple Crown will be run on the day, as well as the R2-million Champions Challenge (formerly the Gommagomma Challenge) open to all horses.
(Source: SA Horseracing)