Quest for $1million bonus begins
THE quest for a whopping $1million bonus begins this week.
In what can only be described as a phenomenal promotion, Harness Racing New South Wales is offering the mouth-watering bonus to the connections of any pacer which completes a clean sweep of the feature race at all five legs of the Carnival of Cups series.
There is also a $500,000 bonus for any pacer which wins four and a $250,000 bonus for three wins.
Parkes will kick-start the circuit on Friday night when it hosts The Dish, which will be contested over 2807 metres.
Penrith is scheduled to conduct the final on March 14, 2025.
Offering a purse of $60,000, The Dish has surprisingly only attracted two genuine Grand Circuit performers in stablemates Swayzee and Nerano.
The duo are part of a three-pronged attack by training whiz, Jason Grimson, who will also be represented by Cya Art.
Swayzee and Nerano recently trialled at Club Menangle, with the latter prevailing in 1:51.6 over a mile.
Both will be first-up since The Blacks A Fake at Albion Park on July 27 in which Swayzee finished second and Nerano was unplaced behind Swayzee's younger half-brother, Leap To Fame.
Although drawn the outside of the second row, Swayzee is a $1.40 TAB Fixed Odds favourite, with Nerano the only other runner under double figures at $3.70 from barrier nine.
As amazing as the bonus is, it is not the first time $1million has been offered as a bonus.
In 1981 the Victorian Trotting Control Board (now known as Harness Racing Victoria) launched the Grand Slam Series, which came with a $1million incentive.
The first major two, three and four-year-old series of classics for pacers and trotters in the Southern Hemisphere, HRV would reward any competitor which could complete a clean sweep of the Finals.
On the surface the bonus appeared to be nothing but terrific news, however, controversy struck the following year after Kara Supreme matched his two-year-old win by capturing the three-year-old Final.
Beyond excited to be on target to secure $1million, Kara Supreme's connections were left gutted when it was declared the money was restricted to pacers, with trotters to receive an abysmal $10,000.
For the record, Kara Supreme missed the four-year-old leg.
Several years later Gammalite won the three pacers' Finals, with the bonus cut dramatically to $50,000!
The series was abandoned after five seasons.
Throughout the years there have been other sizable bonuses, including Western Grant claiming $120,000 for his clean sweep of the John Brandon Derby series in New Zealand in 1989.
The following season Master Musician collected a mouth-watering $500,000 bonus by winning eligible two-year-old features in his native New Zealand and New South Wales.
With stake earnings of $571,164, the gelding became the industry's first 'Million Dollar Baby', however, with bonuses not recognised as official earnings, Master Musician has been denied that title.
In 2007, Lombo Pocket Watch surpassed $1million in earnings as a three-year-old to be bestowed the title as harness racing first 'Million Dollar Baby'.
Master Musician's trainer Robert Dunn believes his former champion deserved the acknowledgement.
“Bonus money, or stakes, he still pulled in $1million,” Dunn declared. “It was something that had never been done before and hasn't been done since by a two-year-old.”
