Prizes soarat Sandown

MINIMUM prize money for all Saturday meetings at Sandown will increase from 1 February in a boost sure to be well received by horse owners and trainers.
The Melbourne Racing Club Committee last month announced an increase to minimum prize money levels for Sandown and Caulfield meetings and selected summer and autumn feature events.
The minimum prize money for Saturday meetings will increase from $56,000 to $60,000 and these increases will apply to 55 races to be conducted for the remainder of the 2007-08 racing season.
MRC chairman, Peter Young, said a successful start to the racing year had paved the way for the prize money review and the recommended increases were fully endorsed by the club’s committee.
Between February and the end of the 2007-08 racing season there are two Saturday meetings programmed for Sandown.
The first of those is the Greater Dandenong Community Raceday on Saturday 26 April.
The day will feature special admission prices for local residents and a vast range of entertainment for the whole family.
The other is Saturday 14 June that will feature the 127th running of the Australian Hurdle and Australian Steeplechase.
This day also marks the 43rd anniversary of the first race meeting at Sandown conducted on 19 June 1965, when 52,379 people flocked to the only metropolitan racecourse in Australia to open in the 20th century.
An additional meeting at Sandown will be the transferred Victoria Racing Club meeting on Monday 28 January, the substitute Australia Day Public Holiday.
The meeting was originally scheduled to be run at Werribee, but due to track problems has now been moved to Sandown.