MV boss to discuss prize money with RV

Moonee Valley Racing Club’s chief executive Michael Browell has expressed disappointment the club’s premium night meetings and feature races have largely missed out on the recent prize money increases announced by Racing Victoria.

On Saturday, RV announced an extra $15.5 million would be put into prize money from August 1.

Saturday metropolitan races will be worth a minimum of $100,000 while Saturday three-year-old races and staying races will be a minimum of $120,000.

Among the other significant prize money increases were the weight-for-age Memsie Stakes, Makybe Diva Stakes, Underwood Stakes and Caulfield Stakes.

Browell said his club was pleased RV had been able to find an additional $40 million a season to boost prize money in Victoria over the past two years and said the recent announcement would boost racing across Victoria.

“But when you sit down and you have a look at how that money has been divided up across the night racing program and our feature races, Moonee Valley certainly hasn’t had an equitable share of that increase,” Browell told RSN927.

Browell estimated 75-80 per cent of Flemington and Caulfield’s races would be at $100,000 or more next season while Moonee Valley would be around 40-45 per cent.

“So it puts Moonee Valley at a severe competitive disadvantage when we’re trying to get quality horses to come through here and race,” he said.

“Particularly on those premium Friday nights that we’ve got where we’ve got minimums at 50 (thousand dollars) and then the following day, whether it’s Caulfield or Flemington, there’s minimums of 100.”

The Memsie Stakes will be worth $1 million this season along with the Caulfield Stakes, while the Makybe Diva Stakes and Underwood Stakes have had increases to $750,000.

Browell said he would need to sit down with Racing Victoria to discuss the prize money situation.

“We’re keen to get a boost in the Cox Plate from $3 million to $4 million,” he said.

“It’s not even to match the Queen Elizabeth Stakes up in Sydney. The Cox Plate being the number one turf race in the world last year, we think it deserves an increase after 15 years being stuck at $3 million.”