Carrington Stakes canned from Randwick racing program

The Listed Carrington Stakes has been removed from the Randwick program due to insufficient interest from participants.

Initial entries on Monday totaled nine, and an additional nomination was made by Ciaron Maher for the talented mare Semana when the deadline was extended. Despite this, only six horses were confirmed for the $200,000 summer feature by Wednesday, with two of them also dual acceptors for interstate races. Racing NSW and Australian Turf Club officials subsequently made the tough call to cancel the event.

ATC Head of Racing and Wagering, Nevesh Ramdhani, acknowledged the historical significance of the Carrington Stakes (1400m), which has been held since 1886, and expressed regret over the decision.

“The Carrington has a history, it was a tough decision,” Ramdhani said. “We don’t want to run a race – based on the scratchings we have seen recently – and end up with four runners or three runners or even less.

“We just didn’t have enough nominations to be confident we were going to have a field for competitive racing on Saturday.”

The Carrington Stakes transitioned to a 1400m race in 2015, after previously being held over distances ranging from 1000m to 1200m.

In light of the abandonment, Ramdhani noted that Racing NSW and the ATC will review the race's conditions to address potential challenges in the future.

“There is a bit of work there between us and Racing NSW to review it,” Ramdhani added.

Randwick will now proceed with a nine-race card on Saturday, featuring The Agency Real Estate Handicap (1000m) for two-year-olds. A highlight of the program will be the debut of Snitzel colt United States, a $1.75 million Magic Millions purchase by Coolmore.