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