Horse racing at Kenilworth. Picture: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images
Racing’s cup runneth over. The South African game got another big boost this week with the announcement of a major new feature race meeting in Cape Town – the Cape Racing Festival Sales Day in mid-March, with prize money rising to R10-million over an initial three-year period.
The Big Cap, a R5-million handicap with conditions, will be the marquee contest on the day. This is a “slot” or “prospector ticket” race, modelled on the big-money Everest race in Australia and similar to the Gold Rush races staged on Cape Town Met day in recent years.
The Big Cap and other high-stakes races on the card at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth will be restricted to graduates of Cape Racing Sales auctions but opportunities are being opened up to horses of various ages and distance capabilities.
Buyers at CRS auctions will be given the chance to buy “slots” for the Big Cap – which can later be privately traded.
The curtain for the new show goes up at Kenilworth on Sunday 16 March 2025, “dovetailing” with CRS’s new March Premier Sale. The Big Cap will be contested over 1400m and is open to all CRS sales graduates.
The R1-million CRS Sprint and R1-million CRS Mile will be for three-year-olds only.
In 2026, the R3-million CRS Slipper for juveniles will be run over 1200m.
So, 2025’s CRS graduates will run for the highest-stake juvenile race in South Africa. The CRS Slipper will be open to all graduates of CRS auctions in 2025, not just the January auction, as was the case before.
This means graduates of CRS auctions in 2025 can run for R3-million in the Slipper as juveniles, and then return to take their chance in the CRS Sprint or CRS Mile at three.
Justin Vermaak, Cape Racing executive, commented: “From a Cape Racing perspective, having such a diverse and highly incentivised race day perfectly extends our racing season. We have always felt that our summer season ends a touch prematurely.”
Coming three weeks after Slashout Cape Derby Day, the new fixture extends the summer Season of Champions and adds an eighth “Festival” meeting to the programme.
It is a bold marketing gambit by CRS and injects significantly more money into racing.
In addition to stimulating interest in the new Premier Sale, it will stir excitement among vendors and buyers at the CRS Breeze Up & 2YO Unbroken Sale to be held at Durbanville on 27 October this year.
Graduates will be potential qualifiers for a run in the Big Cap as three-year-olds.
The announcement is also good news for purchasers at the October 2022 CRS Ready To Run Sale, whose graduates are eligible for the first running of the race – and a bonus for all CRS buyers at sales in 2023 and 2024 who made their purchases unaware of the Big Cap bonanza.
“Knowing that your purchase will potentially be able to participate in a R3-million race as a juvenile, and then have a R5-million race available every season, is quite something,” said Vermaak.
“Having R10-million on offer across four individual races is unlike any sales race incentive structure we have ever seen in South Africa.”
He went on to explain more about the Big Cap: “The large spread at the weights will ensure that a vast group of graduates come into the race with a chance.
“The Gold Rush was a success in general, and it only fell slightly short in that if you were not a slot holder of a top candidate, the race became impossible to win. With The Big Cap offering a more extended spread, it creates a more level playing field, as handicap racing is intended to do. At only R325,000 a slot, it opens up a broader list of potential slot owners.”
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