changes to apg series

With only a little over a week to go until APG Yearling Sales kick off, we wanted to write to you to let you know about some major enhancements that APG is making to its Race Series & Gold Bonus Scheme.

Amongst the changes are the following:

· The APG 3yo Series will be discontinued, however, all monies that APG contributed to the 3yo Series, plus further additional funding, will be injected into the 2yo Race Series and Gold Bonus Scheme;
· The APG Gold Bonus Scheme for colts & geldings will increase by 33% to $2,000 for their first 2yo win;
· The APG Gold Bonus Scheme for fillies will be expanded to enable an eligible filly to win up to a maximum of $6,000 in Gold Bonuses (i.e. $2,000 for their first win as a 2yo, 3yo or 4yo).
· The 2yo Race Series will take on a heats, semi-finals and final format;
· Prizemoney in the heats and semi-finals will only be paid to the first five placegetters, meaning that the full $20,000 in prizemoney will be paid out in every race (previously, because $760 was paid for horses finishing 6th – 10th, most heats ran for less than $20,000 because they did not have full fields);
· A $10,000 Consolation will be run in each state (NSW, VIC & QLD) for horses that fail to advance from the heats to the semi-finals (subject to a minimum field size of 8);
· A $10,000 Consolation Final will be run in the same State as the 2yo final for those horses that fail to advance from the semi-finals to the final (subject to a minimum field size of 8);
· There will be close to a 50% increase in the amount of prizemoney paid to vendors of horses that qualify for the APG 2yo final
· In order to fully sustain a horse for the 2yo Series & Gold Bonus Scheme, owners will need to make a payment of $990 on sales day, a second payment of $990 by 31 October of the horse’s 2yo season, and a final payment of $990 by 31 January of the horse’s 2yo season.

While there is something for everyone in the new Terms & Conditions, clearly the biggest winners are the fillies, who on top of being eligible to compete in the APG’s $1million 2yo Race Series, now also have the ability to win up to $6,000 in Gold Bonuses.

- a few problems with this imo
- if your horse isnt much good but still goes safely, you dont have any chance to get a return on your 3k that you now have to fully pay to remain in the series
- colts only get a chance to win a bonus at 2, surely just encouraging trainers to push horses that arent quite ready
- looks to really benefit the top few horses in each year as they win more money in the heats and semi's
- i really really hate the idea of not paying out to last, have a look at the trotters prizemoney in nsw and see how much money the horses that dont win but lob a place every now and again have, average horses earn good money under a more even spread of prizemoney

I think if they are to give bonuses to fillies they should give them to the colts, why should purchases pay the same amount to pay a colt up as a filly but not be able to get a bonus as a 3 and 4yr old. So i cant see how they can say there's a more even spread of prizemoney.

I'm sorry but I read this in the Trotguide this morning and I had a few choice words! So if something happens to your 2yo, your money is almost down the gurgler because you don't have a shot of recouping it at 3 if the 3yo races are scrapped....?!

Really disappointed.

To top it off, the purse for 2yos has been 300k thereabouts for YEARS. WHY hasn't the APG increased the prizemoney for such a long time? It is really disappointing. Breeders Crown has been progressing, they now even have a 4yo race. APG has been stale for a little while.

I will be supporting races like the Breeders Crown, THEY have the right idea, even races for 4yos now! Watch and Bathurst will also gradually become more popular, with 2 AND 3yo races.

Really against this, what is done is done I suppose. Maybe if there is enough backlash they will go back to what they originally had?

Sorry APG! :(

In 2009 at the premium sale you had to pay the first payment for the a.p.g series if you purchased a horse or brought yours back. My question is if you go to the sale this year and find a horse you really like and you know the family doesn't go early but you think you'll take a chance and hopefully it will make a nice 3yr old surely they cant make you pay the first payment if it is a colt as your racing for nothing as a 3yr old onwards.

i thought it was a pretty well set up and run series? why change, ok maybe the 3 yr old series had to go but just add the prizemoney on top of everything else

I havent received my letter so this is the first i have heard of it.

As both a buyer and seller at the last 5 sales, my thoughts are as follows:

Additional bonuses for fillies is an outstanding idea. The reality is that a good colt will almost always beat a good filly(with a few exceptions) so there needs to be additional incentive to buy fillies.

Whenever there is change, there are going to be some happy, and some unhappy. It's impossible to please everyone

On the other hand, i think they should have kept the prizemoney for 5th to last. At least you got something back for paying up.

Mightymo, I agree with that post.

another sort of on topic point - they changed the new breeders scheme so that you can only win 1 bonus of 2,500k each season (at 2 and 3) redeemable only for breeding or buying instead of a maximum of 3 at 2k redeemable as cash and put on a consolations series run at wagga...surely horses are better off being rewarded for any wins throughout the season rather than on one meeting, most horses will win maybe 1/2 a season and those owners are the ones that need the boost, not just 1 owner whos horse draws to lead at wagga and the 3 bonuses still lets the good horses earn good money too

most owners are probably wanting something to pay their next training bill rather then buying or breeding another one

There is only one thing more dangerous than the trend worldwide to only race at 2 and 3, and then retire at 3. And that is put more and more and more focus on 2yo races. Never did I think I would see the day where 3yo races were begining to go by the wayside. Australia is the most obssessed 2yo racing country in the world, thoroughbreds or gallops! I really dislike that... I dislike the trend, for example in America, to retire the good colts and fillies at the end of their 3yo season - but at least the big races abound for horses at both 2 and 3. And here we are scrapping a 3yo series!! I am not anti 2yo racing, I just think that just as much empasis should be placed on 3yo races as well. Not all good horses are destined to be great 2yos.

G'day Flashing,

I'm all for these changes, particularly so the increase in $ available for 2yo & 3yo fillies & 4yo mares...but also for the complete scrapping of the 3yo series.
I was lucky enough to see it develop up close when George & Mike Aiken initially fronted it. Right from its inception the APG was NEVER meant to be anything other than a 2yo C& G and Fillies Pacing Series. It both began and ended there. That was its sole focus.
We sold in the 2nd APG Sale ever held here in Sydney. I remember the feeling like it was yesterday. I got $4,000 for this big, raw boned chestnut rig and thought I was Robert Sangster. :D:D:D but I digress.
A 3yo series, the Trotters and so on were never, ever meant to be part of the plan at any stage. They were instead tacked on, no doubt by well-meaning people but in my opinion quite erroneously so, and it was done so at a much later date. It was never meant to be expanded in such a fashion & so become a quazi Sires Stakes come Australasian Breeders Crown system running in parallel to the aforementioned.
The way I see it...with the addition of the Fillies $, which has been desperately needed since day one, the recent changes are everything old is new again. This is simply the APG thankfully, finally returning to its roots...and not before time. Nice work APG.