Championships Meets Expectations

Following day two of The Championships at Royal Randwick Saturday, Racing NSW Chief Executive Officer Peter V’landys said the event “delivered to my expectations–we’ll start planning for next year on Monday.”

A total of 23,791 fans turned out under mostly sunny skies at Royal Randwick Saturday for a card that featured 24 individual Group 1 winners.

“All I can say about the racing is that it has been sheer entertainment, and when you have that quality of runners it’s spectacular,” V’landys said.

Australian Turf Club CEO Darren Pearce added, “Today’s racing was world-class and has shown that The Championships are quickly becoming a major part of international racing. The Championships and Sydney racing are being embraced by international racing’s horses, jockeys and owners, and we will plan to make next year’s event bigger and better again.”

Hugh Bowman was the winner of the Nathan Berry Medal, named for the former jockey who passed away last year and awarded to the leading jockey at The Championships. Bowman tied with Joao Moreira with eight points, but had two wins over the two days where Moreira failed to win on the two cards. 

“This is a real honor to win the Nathan Berry Medal,” Bowman said. “Nathan was great friend to us all and it’s obviously an award that is close to our hearts.”