A R1-million race for maidens adds spice to the Peermont Emperor’s Palace Charity Mile race meeting at Turffontein on Saturday.
The inaugural Monaco Million Maiden Sprint over 1160m is an opportunity for the owners of any maiden who has run at least once.
The winner of the race banks half of the R1-million prize with R175,000 for second, R100,000 for third and progressively less for the next seven finishers. The 10th runner home gets R10,000.
Africa’s richest race for maidens is sponsored by Prince Albert II, the reigning monarch of Monaco, and several businessmen in the principality, and is the brainchild of Mike Wittstock, whose daughter Charlene is married to the prince.
Race-3 (Turf) R1 000 000 1160m 13:40
1st R500000, 2nd R175000, 3rd R100000, 4th R75000, 5th R50000, 6th R30000, 7th R25000, 8th R20000, 9th R15000, 10th R10000
MONACO MILLION MAIDEN SPRINT
| 1 | 4 | Libra Lover | Scratched | 60 | 53 | TBa | CARD SCRATCHING | Heinrich van der Westhuizen |
| 2 | 16 | Epic Dream | 59 | 90 | A | G Lerena | Candice Dawson | |
| 3 | 14 | Against The Grain | 59 | 89 | A | *L Hewitson | Sean Tarry | |
| 4 | 11 | Tripple Z | 59 | 78 | A | *L J Ferraris -1.5 | Ormond Ferraris | |
| 5 | 7 | Tarzan | 59 | 73 | A | C Herrera Gomez | David Nieuwenhuizen | |
| 6 | 9 | The Mackem Slayer | 59 | 61 | BA | R Munger | Craig Mayhew | |
| 7 | 2 | Bye Bye Rocket | 59 | 0 | A | M Khan | Paul Matchett | |
| 8 | 20 | Duke’s Dozen | 59 | 0 | A | C Orffer | Brett Crawford | |
| 9 | 3 | Mojito Magic | 59 | 0 | A | C Maujean | Geoff Woodruff | |
| 10 | 12 | Old Man Tyme | 59 | 0 | BA | K Zechner | St John Gray | |
| 11 | 13 | Opensea | 59 | 0 | A | W Kennedy | Gavin van Zyl | |
| 12 | 19 | Summer House | 59 | 0 | A | C Zackey | Tobie Spies | |
| 13 | 1 | Without Limits | 56.5 | 69 | A | C Habib | Devin Little | |
| 14 | 15 | Bel Canto Chorus | 56.5 | 67 | BA | M V’Rensburg | Stuart Pettigrew | |
| 15 | 10 | Corazon | 56.5 | 63 | A | *J Gates -4.0 | Michael Roberts | |
| 16 | 8 | Chouette | 56.5 | 0 | A | *D Schwarz | Gary Alexander | |
| 17 | 17 | Extravert | Scratched | 56.5 | 0 | A | W Marwing | Stanley Ferreira |
| 18 | 18 | Greener Pastures | 56.5 | 0 | A | R Simons | Mike de Kock | |
| 19 | 5 | Miss Divine | 56.5 | 0 | A | *D R Lerena -2.5 | Leon Erasmus (Jnr) | |
| 20 | 6 | Song Of The Forest | 56.5 | 0 | A | S Brown | Louis Goosen | |
| Same Trainer – Not Coupled on Tote | ||||||||
Wittstock and the Racing Association have worked together to put the race in place. It replaces the two R250 000 Maiden Plates, both sponsored by Princess Charlene, formerly run on Charity Mile day. Those races now form part of the programme for the Princess Charlene Empress Club Stakes race meeting at Turffontein and were run for the first time on their new date this year.
At the request of the sponsors, the Monaco Million has unique entry conditions and aims to give as many owners of maidens as possible a crack at sharing in the big payday.
The field of 20 runners was determined by a ballot and trainers may enter as many of their maiden runners as they wish. But each trainer is allowed only one runner so once a stable entry gets into the field, the trainer’s other entries are ineligible.
The nomination fee for the race was R1 725 and these monies will be donated to charity. The declaration fee was R9 200.
The day’s feature, the Peermont Emperors Palace Charity Mile is a unique race in that every horse who lines up will run for a charity with its finishing position determining how much the beneficiary will win. To add glitz and glamour, each runner has a media sponsor and is publicly represented by a celebrity.
