Arena Racing Company (ARC), the largest racing group in Britain, and 1/ST, who maintains a large portfolio of tracks in North America, will team to offer new opportunities for some of their feature races, the organizations announced in a joint release Tuesday.
The winners of certain races at Doncaster will be offered free entry into some of the marquee events when Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California, stages the inaugural California Crown on 28 September and select races on the Pegasus World Cup undercard at Gulfstream Park near Miami, Florida, on 25 January 2025.
During the upcoming Betfred St Leger Festival, the winner of the G2 Betfred May Hill Stakes will receive an invitation to the $500,000 GII Pegasus World Cup Invitational Filly & Mare Turf over a mile and one-sixteenth (about 1700 metres). A free entry into the GII Eddie D. Turf Sprint (1300 metres), worth $750,000, will be extended to the winner of the G2 Carlsberg Danish Pilsner Flying Childers Stakes.
For the first time, Season 12 of the All-Weather Championships will open qualification to Finals Day to any horse running three times over a synthetic surface in the USA, in addition to runs in the UK, Ireland or France. The winner of the Carousel Club Handicap at Gulfstream on 25 January will now receive free entry into the All-Weather Championships Final Mile at Newcastle on Good Friday, 18 April 2025, with two other qualifying runs. The All-Weather Championships begin this coming October across the six all-weather courses in Britain, culminating with the £1-million Finals Day.
ARC and 1/ST will support the connections of any qualifying horse with a subsidy towards their travel.
“We are delighted to announce this partnership with 1/ST to offer the winners of two of the most high-profile races during the Betfred St Leger Festival the opportunity to take up some exciting opportunities in the USA,” said Brendan Parnell, director of media and international at ARC. “Likewise, in extending the qualification criteria for the All-Weather Championships, and the link with Gulfstream Park, we hope that we might look to add some further international interest in the £1-million Good Friday fixture, alongside the long standing Irish and French participation.”
Added Aidan Butler, president of 1/ST: “We're thrilled to expand our existing partnership with ARC. Working with Doncaster and its revered St Leger Festival is truly a privilege. By coupling timeless tradition to forward-thinking innovation, via newly-conceived concepts like the California Crown at Santa Anita Park on 28 September (California's richest day of racing outside the Breeders' Cup), we will only build.”
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