The demographics of the Western Cape’s racehorse population has shown a healthy all-round improvement over the past two years, with the inaugural The Country Championships having proven a winner in ensuring a place in the proverbial sun for all horses.
Night Bomber is a winner of last season’s Winter Country Champs 1200 Final (Pic – Chase Liebenberg)
A diverse horse population was identified early on by Cape Racing as key to sustained future growth, and while programme innovation, boosted stakes, and the RaceCape Incentive has led to increased field sizes and revitalized energy levels, the strategic need to cater for a wider spread of talent is an ongoing vital medium-term driver of growth.
Introduced in 2024, The Country Championships is aimed at the lower merit-rated horses in the province, which race predominantly in Class 4 and Class 5 races.
Class 4 races cater for merit ratings of 62 – 78, while Class 5 races are for horses with merit ratings of 66 and below.
Looking back at last year’s exciting championships, there was an equal share of the spoils between the sexes, with the individual finals won by:
- Winter Country Champs 1200 Final: Beneath the Moon & Night Bomber
- Winter Country Champs 1400 Final: Cloud Chaser
- Winter Country Champs 1800 Final: Southern Song
The overall winner of the last Country Champioships was the Justin Snaith trained, Master of Paris.
In summary, The Country Championships series balances the landscape in a region renowned for producing champions and gives the connections of lower-rated horses in the Cape the opportunity to enjoy their racing, with boosted earnings opportunities.
The Country Championships gains further momentum as it operates parallel to the RaceCape initiative’s ‘Runs Bonus’ incentive, which creates further incentives for all horses.
With RaceCape, horses that run twelve times in the season earn a R25 000 bonus, which increases further to R35 000 with fifteen runs.
The Country Championships incorporates all Class 4 and 5 and C Stakes races with a Summer and Winter Championship set of five finals each.
The championship table positions determine qualification for the respective finals.
Here are the standings per 19 June:
The competition’s gross prize money is R2 092 500 (stakes of the races and top 20 prize money), and Hollywoodbets Kenilworth will host the five 2025 Winter Country Championships finals of R200 000 each on 16 August.
- Winter Country Champs 1000 Final
- Winter Country Champs 1200 Final
- Winter Country Champs 1400 Final
- Winter Country Champs 1600 Final
- Winter Country Champs 2000 Final (This is 1950 – amended due to course configuration)
Visit www.capeturfclub.co.za for more information.
