Newsells Park Stud first to land a Great British Bonus

The new Great British Bonus (GBB) initiative, launched last Thursday, had its first winner when Pelekai landed a two-year-old fillies' maiden over 5f at Newcastle on Tuesday for trainer Mark Johnston and owner-breeder Newsells Park Stud.

Bonuses of up to £20,000 per eligible race are distributed to British-bred fillies and mares. The aim of the scheme is to safeguard the future of British-bred fillies and improve their commerciality by encouraging owners and breeders to race fillies.

To be eligible for the scheme payments are made at the foal, yearling and two-year-old stages of a British-bred filly’s career. Two-year-old fillies who are fully registered for the Plus 10 scheme are automatically included in the GBB scheme.

Fillies born in Britain by a British-based stallion at the time of conception are deemed 'GBB 100 per cent' and eligible for a bonus of up to £20,000 per eligible race. A daughter of Pelerin, Pelekai is by Irish-based stallion Kodiac, meaning she is 'GBB 50 per cent', entitling her to £10,000, on top of prize-money of £4,140.

As Newsells Park Stud are both the owner and breeder of Pelekai, the stud is eligible to receive the bonus payments for all three stages, equating to 85 per cent. Johnston receives 7.5 per cent of the bonus, with jockey Franny Norton getting five per cent. Johnston’s stable staff receive 2.5 per cent.

Pelekai is the second winner from as many runners for Pelerin, a dual Listed-winning daughter of Shamardal for the same trainer/owner combination. Premier Power, Pelerin’s first foal, looked a hugely exciting prospect last year when winning his maiden by five lengths for Roger Varian.

Fillies nominated to the GBB initiative in the 2019 foal crop will have a later date of August 31 this year to apply for both foal and yearling nominations.

For those filly foals born in 2020, the stage one foal registration is due by August 31, with the stage two yearling payment due on June 30, 2021 and stage three by 28 February, 2022.

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