There is plenty of excitement surrounding next year’s inaugural NZB Kiwi, which has found its way south to Dunedin.

A hospitality package for eight people for the event sold at auction for $15,500 last week at the Dunedin Supper Club, Dunedin’s annual fundraiser for Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC).

“Supper Club came to me and asked if I could put something together around racing for their fundraiser,” Otago Racing Club president Sharyn Anderton said.

“Supper Club run this annually and it is a fundraiser for a Ronald McDonald House to be built in Dunedin. They have been raising the money and they have now bought some land and they are going to proceed to build.

“Each year the money goes towards the building of a Ronald McDonald House here in Dunedin, it is a really good cause.”

The hospitality package was gifted to the event by Otago Racing Club, in partnership with New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing, and Anderton said it was a great result for a worthy cause.

“It was lucky enough that I met up with Bruce Sharrock (NZTR chief executive) and Cameron George (former NZTR chairman) when they were down at Wingatui and I said ‘what meeting could we get some tickets to?’ I had the Karaka Millions in my head but they said ‘what about the inaugural slot race in March next year?’, and it has all stemmed from there,” she said.

“They (Dunedin Supper Club) were grateful to whatever they were going to get, but it ended up that $15,500 was the second highest price of the night, so they were absolutely thrilled. In comparison, the first prize was a cruise around the Greek Islands that included flights and accommodation, which went for around $28,000.”

Otago Racing Club’s fundraising efforts are set to continue next year, with a charitable race day in the works leading up their feature meeting in March.

“We have got our Otago Classic Day in March and have seen huge stakes rises for that,” Anderton said. “We have also got in the pipeline an Otago Community Cup Day before that. We haven’t got it across the line yet, but we want to do that for some charitable trusts.”