Hawke’s Bay Racing has announced that the winner and runner-up in the 2019 Lisa Chittick Foxbridge Plate (Gr 2) 1200m at Te Rapa will be provided ballot free exemptions into the 2019 Tarzino Trophy (Gr 1) 1400m at Hastings two weeks later.

 

Now in its third year, the $200,000 Tarzino Trophy will be run on Saturday, 31 August.

 

Last year’s Foxbridge Plate runner up Julius was withdrawn the week of the race after looking unlikely to get a start in the Tarzino.  The previous year Foxbridge Plate runner up Close Up came in off the ballot on race day morning before scoring a memorable Group One win in the Tarzino Trophy.

 

“While we are comfortable with the New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing (NZTR) ballot conditions for Group 1 races, the fact that the Tarzino is so early in the season makes it very hard for horses to improve their order of entry,” Hawke’s Bay Racing CEO Andrew (Butch) Castles said.

 

“By allowing the winner (who would get into the Tarzino anyway) and runner-up a ballot exemption, we believe we are fixing an anomaly that saw Close Up and Julius struggle to get runs in the first of our three Group 1’s,” Castles said.

 

Nominations for the three Group 1 races that make up the Bostock New Zealand Spring Carnival triple crown - Tarzino Trophy 1400m, Windsor Park Plate 1600m and Livamol Classic 2040m - will be taken on Tuesday, 16 July with the National Racing Bureau.