'Our revenues are still going up' - huge prize-money for Sydney's carnival races may be boosted further

Racing New South Wales has said it would consider further prize-money increases after pumping A$12 million (£6.3m/€7.3m) into this year's lucrative Sydney Everest carnival, a move that comes against the backdrop of rival jurisdiction Racing Victoria's purse cuts.

The TAB Everest, the second-richest race in the world and the richest on turf, will be worth A$20m (£10.5m/€12.2m) on October 14, an increase of A$5m (£2.6m/€3m). 

It was announced on Saturday that the George Main Stakes has been rebranded the King Charles III Stakes and will be worth A$5m. It has been moved to the Everest undercard at Royal Randwick. 

The significant boost to Australia's richest carnival comes after Racing Victoria revealed across-the-board purse decreases in the state this month and declared the prize-money arms race with Racing NSW as "over".

Prize-money for the All-Star Mile, Racing Victoria's response to The Everest, will be cut from A$5m to A$4m amid an economic downturn in Australia and decreased turnover at the sales. 

A fiery relationship between Racing Victoria and Racing NSW has developed in recent years, in part due to the Sydney Everest carnival's perceived challenge to the more established Melbourne Cup carnival. Prize-money, whip reform and equine welfare are other areas that have been caught in the crossfire. 

Racing NSW also brought legal action against Racing Victoria and other racing authorities to establish if the organisation was being subjected to "anti-competitive behaviour".

Racing NSW chief executive Peter V'landys has defended the prize-money increases, which were announced at an event in London.

He said the rises were in keeping with the organisation's revenues, which have benefited from the growing popularity of The Everest.

“Our revenues are still going up, they’ve not declined, and one reason for that is certainly that The Everest has a 12-month effect," said V'landys, speaking to ANZ Bloodstock. "It attracts a new generation of punters, who participate all year round, and so the bigger it is, the more people’s attention it gets. There’s no need for us to be cutting prize-money, in fact we’re doing the opposite.

“We always take the policy that we give these dividends to our participants. If you were a public company, and you’re doing very well with your profits, you issue dividends to your shareholders. In our case, the prize-money is the dividends to our participants. They put on the show, and they compete for the prize-money. We could probably do more [prize-money increases] and we may well look at doing more."

The Sydney Everest carnival consists of ten racedays between September 16 and November 11 at Royal Randwick and Rosehill Gardens.

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