For the second straight year, New Zealand Bloodstock is teaming up with the Newcastle Jockey Club to stage a lucrative New Zealand-themed raceday at Newcastle Racecourse this Saturday.
NZB is proud to be at the forefront of developing the innovative concept, playing an integral part as the principal sponsor of the entire meeting as well as multiple undercard races.
The richest race of the standalone meeting is the A$1m The Hunter (1300m), supported by the A$200,000 Group Three New Zealand Bloodstock Spring Stakes (1600m), the A$300,000 NZB Insurance The Beauford (2300m), the A$150,000 NZB Airfreight Max Lees Classic (900m), the A$150,000 DoubleTree by Hilton Karaka Fillies & Mares (1400m), the A$150,000 Alf Kneebone Trans-Tasman Trophy (1850m), the A$150,000 Karaka 2023 Benchmark 88 Handicap (1300m), the A$150,000 NZB Jack Newton Legend Mile (1600m) and the A$120,000 Gavelhouse.com Midway (1600m).
A talented field of 13 will shoot for valuable black type in the Spring Stakes, including Karaka graduates Saveadateforme (NZ) (Savabeel) and Kazalark (NZ) (Vadamos). Proven blacktype performer Basquiat (Snitzel), meanwhile, is part-owned by New Zealand Bloodstock principal Sir Peter Vela.
The Spring Stakes will be run as Race 7 at Newcastle with a start time of 4pm local time (6pm New Zealand time).
Adding another dimension to the day is the Alf Kneebone Trans-Tasman Trophy, where Australian-born and New Zealand-born trainers will compete head-to-head. The race, named after the highly respected racing scribe Alf Kneebone, celebrates the talented trainers produced by both Australia and New Zealand. The winning trainer of the race will receive a NZ$5,000 NZB credit towards the Karaka 2022 yearling sale.
