Presidents Champions Challenge now the richest...

Race in South Africa

Phumelela and the Racing Association have doubled the prize money of the President’s Champions Challenge to R4 million, making it the richest race on the continent.
Simultaneously, they have upped the stake of the Peermont Emperors Palace Charity Mile by R400,000 to R1 million.
The Champions Challenge, a Grade 1 race over 2000m, is run on Champions Day at Turffontein on the last Saturday in April annually.
The Charity Mile, a Grade 2 race over 1600m at Turffontein, will be run in October this year.
Racing Association chief executive Larry Wainstein said yesterday: “The Champions Challenge is a true-run race where the conditions favour the best horse. So it deserves a big stake.
“It used to be the richest race in South Africa and now it has that status again. We’re hoping the big stake will attract the top horses from all over the country.”
Wainstein added that even though the Charity Mile is not a Grade 1 race, it generally attracts a high-quality field and the raceday itself has become iconic among racegoers. “We felt it was time,” he said.
The race is linked to charity with each of the 16 runners racing on a behalf of a charity. The finishing positions of the horses determine the amount each charity wins.
Each runner is publicly represented by a celebrity and the charities take home R1,000,000 in total.

Who sponsors these races?

The Cape boys will be falling over each other to grab a big slice of the pie. In another era Terence Millard raided the Highveld with success and Mike Bass has also taken on the Gauteng challenge.

Then again Horse of the Year and all the perks and accolades for potential stud duties won't be enhanced by a Presidents Cup win and the wily will rather raid the Kzn Champions Season where the pickings will be easy pickings. :lol:

Certainly a few positives for owners these days during difficult times

Excellent news...........

Cape boys are not happy about this race being called the "richest" because of some sale race

May be the richest but will NEVER have anything on the July and Met... :evil:

You can't buy class

I wish the Vodacom big wigs read this thread.maybe they can reach in their change drawer and add a 1 in front of the current July stake.After all the JULY HANDICAP is the greatest race in Africa.

Yes, we all know that the Met and July attract bigger crowds and the atmosphere are out of this World. This we can't argue about. However this announcement is very good for racing in general, especially taking into consideration the current talks about a fear of recession & the downward spiral of economic figures.

This is good for SA Racing.