In another exciting initiative for Horse Racing in KwaZulu-Natal, Gold Circle country, Hollywoodbets has launched a new competition for Jockeys, Trainers and Owners – with R750 000 up for grabs!
The Hollywoodbets Sizzling Summer Challenge, which awards points for every runner in every race, gets underway on 1st December 2019.
Gold Circle and Hollywoodbets launched the Grooms’ Initiative in October, rewarding the winning groom for every race in KZN with R1 000.
In yet another groundbreaking initiative, the partnership have introduced this new competition to reward other key stakeholders in the Horse Racing industry, the Trainers, Jockeys and Owners.
Together with the Grooms’ R1 000 award per race over the three months – these programmes will inject One Million Rand into racing in KwaZulu-Natal.
The Hollywoodbets Sizzling Summer Challenge will run on a points system, with points awarded according to the finishing position for each runner taking part in a race. The total points available in each race is determined by how many runners are taking part. Therefore, if there are 10 runners in a race, there will be 10 points for 1st place, 9 points for 2nd place, and so on, down to 10th place receiving 1 point. If there are only 6 runners in a race, there will be 6 points for a win, 5 points for 2nd, and so on.
The points will be awarded to the Jockey, the Trainer, and that particular horse (representing the Owner/s).
A running leader board will be made available online, in the media and on the big screens at Hollywoodbets Greyville racecourse.
The competition will run for three months, covering all KZN race meetings from 1st December 2019 to 28th February 2020.
A prize pot of R250,000 will be awarded to each of the categories, totalling R750,000 in the competition.
The prize money will be broken down for the top 6 positions, with R100k going to 1st place, R50k to 2nd place, R40k to 3rd place, R30k to 4th place, R20k to 5th place, and R10k to 6th place.
“This is a way to encourage Owners, Trainers and Jockeys to be part of racing in Gold Circle country and reward them for their efforts throughout the KZN Summer season,” said Devin Heffer, Brand and Communication Manager for Hollywoodbets.
“We view this competition as a great opportunity to encourage trainers to enter more of their horses in KZN races, as well as an incentive to get them running more often. Trainers from outside the province might find this as an ideal opportunity to target a string of their horses for the KZN Summer season.”
“The beauty of this competition is that it won’t necessarily be the best horses in the province winning the competition. It will be the horses that run more often and perform more consistently.”
“This also applies to Jockeys and Trainers who ride and train more horses in KZN. They give themselves a better chance of placing in the prize money. It also encourages Jockeys to ride out their mounts in every race. Every position gained is an extra point for their position on the leader board.”
“As there are 6 places in the prize money, the competition will go all out until the end of the three-month period.”
Hollywoodbets and Gold Circle recently made the announcement that from 1st of December 2019, a horse’s carded number will now be the same as its allocated barrier draw. This will run concurrently with the Hollywoodbets Sizzling Summer Challenge and will be on trial until the end of February 2020.
The Hollywoodbets Sizzling Summer Challenge gets underway on Sunday 1st December 2019 at Hollywoodbets Greyville Racecourse.
Gold Circle has also announced that racing will take place on the first three Friday nights in December, adding to the festivities of the holiday season!
The newly revamped ‘Short Head’ venue will host a launch event for the competition on Friday 29th November at 15h30.
Hollywoodbets and Gold Circle would like to extend an invitation to all Owners, Trainers, Jockeys, Punters and Grooms to be part of this.
- Pics by Gold Circle / Candiese Lenferna
