UK keen to expand recruitment of Australian horses

Nick Smith travelling to Australia to try and recruit horses to compete in England is nothing new, but Ascot’s Director of Racing and Public Affairs has tweaked his travel schedule for 2025.

Smith will visit both Melbourne and Sydney late next month to spread the word on new incentives being offered to horses outside what was previously his target demographic in Australia; open-age sprinters.

Golden Slipper Day at Rosehill and Flemington on Australian Cup Day are Smith’s target meetings, here to promote the British Mid-Summer Bonus, which revolves around the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot and Sussex Stakes at Goodwood.

Up to £1 million in bonuses will be available to owners or trainers outside Europe who send horses for both the Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot (2406m) and the Group 1 Sussex Stakes (1609m) at Goodwood, which are both run in July.

The £1 million win bonus will be paid out should the winners of both races be owned or trained by the same person. Should the horses be placed in both races, a £250,000 bonus will be paid.

Additionally, any non-European-trained horse that wins either the King George or Sussex Stakes and then runs in the Group 1 Juddmonte International at York will receive a £250,000 appearance fee.

Any horse that is placed in the King George or Qatar Sussex Stakes and then runs in the Juddmonte International will receive a £150,000 appearance fee.

“This gives the VRC and Racing Victoria a chance to really push their flagship middle-distance autumn race,” Smith, whose previous trips to Australia have been geared around the recruitment of sprinters, said.

“I’d love to see it come off. We’re very realistic in what we do, we know the challenges and the opposition that’s waiting in Europe, but Rome wasn’t built in a day and sprinters travelling now is almost routine.”

Another part of Smith’s charter at Rosehill is to promote opportunities for Australian two-year-olds in the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup (1207m), which is run on Friday’s fourth day of the Royal Ascot meeting.

“The horses that run in the Golden Slipper can run in the Commonwealth Cup,” Smith said.

“The two-year-olds in Australia are three-year-olds in Europe, so they can run with a 10-pound weight break and they’re fit, healthy and ready to go whereas our three-year-olds are only really just starting.

“It’s not an impossibility that you could do that.”

After his time in Australia, Smith will head to Japan while he has also has plans to be in Dubai for the World Cup meeting on April 5.