Sydney’s spring carnival is set to have a new race and its prizemoney will be second only to The Everest.

GODOLPHIN ADDS ATHIRI TO AUTUMN ARSENAL
Racing NSW and Australian Turf Club officials are understood to be preparing to make an announcement as early as Wednesday about a revamped spring program.

It is expected the new race will be worth more than the $7.3 million Melbourne Cup and behind only the $14 million The Everest as the richest race in the southern hemisphere.

There are even rumours of another multimillion-dollar race being introduced to enhance the Sydney spring.

However, racing officials are tight-lipped about details of the new race proposals and revised programming for the spring carnival.

What is known is that The Everest clashes with the Caulfield Cup next year and there is speculation the new race could be run the week later, the same day as the Cox Plate.

The introduction in the past two years of The Everest, which has been run on the same day as the Caulfield Guineas, proved the Sydney and Melbourne spring carnivals can coexist.

In fact, betting turnover, on-course attendances and television ratings have soared at Randwick and Caulfield on Everest Day.

What The Everest has also shown is that there is a real appetite for top-quality racing in Sydney during the spring once the NRL is completed.

Melbourne’s spring carnival is perfectly positioned after the NRL and AFL seasons have ended and before the cricket and tennis seasons, so it is understandable Sydney racing officials should look to make more use of the “clear air” for racing in October.

NEWCOMER MAKES IMPACT ON DEBUT
GODOLPHIN two-year-old Athiri made a brilliant start to her career with an easy win at Rosehill.

Athiri might not have been as visually impressive as her stablemate Tassort at his first start a week earlier but the filly showed admirable race sense to burst between runners and put a margin on her rivals.

Trainer James Cummings indicated how highly he rated Athiri when he announced the filly would be spelled immediately and set for the Sydney autumn, just as he has done with ruling Golden Slipper favourite Tassort.

At Moonee Valley, Brooklyn Hustle also impressed in winning her debut two-year-old race with a stunning effort.

HAWKES DEBUTANT PROVES UP TO TASK
WHEN was the last time a three-year-old made its debut in a Sydney Saturday benchmark 78 against older horses and won?

Kapajack, trained by Michael, Wayne and John Hawkes, managed the rare feat at Rosehill and is a young sprinter with loads of ability.

The Hawkes are usually very conservative when taking their horses through the grades and it is a measure of their lofty opinionof Kapajack that they ran him out of his grade last Saturday.

Kapajack, who will now be aimed at the Magic Millions three-year-old guineas, continued the Hawkes stable’s recent run of success that yielded six winners in four days late last week, including a double at the Canterbury meeting on Friday night with the emerging C’est Davimchi.

OH BOY HE’S QUITE A TALENT
NOBLE Boy maintained his unbeaten record and impressed Sydney’s leading jockey James McDonald with the acceleration he showed to win the TAB highway.

Trainer Todd Blows, who has only held a licence for 12 months, has nine horses in work and has prepared three winners, all with Noble Boy.

He said his stable star would now be aimed at the rich Country Championships series next autumn.

LAD DELIVERS FOR TEAM WEIR
VOODOO Lad gave trainer Darren Weir his sixth Group 1 winner of the season when he stormed home to win the Winterbottom Stakes at Ascot on Saturday night.

Weir is keeping the pressure on star trainer Chris Waller (eight majors) in this season’s national Group 1 championships.

The Winterbottom Stakes also provided home-town hero Damien Oliver with the 115th Group 1 of his celebrated riding career.

RUN OF THE DAY
You don’t often see a 3YO having its 1st start in a benchmark 78 race of a Saturday but unusually for Team Hawkes they did it with Kapajack and got the result.

Kapajack had showed really good ability in all his career trials and after having good late specking in the market he looked the real thing winning well.

FORGET THEY RAN
Coup De Main was beaten by a very nice type in the Tab Highway and had no real excuses.

Leading into the race there were reports from trainer Danny Williams that he has still plenty in the tank working towards the Country Championships so expect to see more from him over the next few months.

THE BLACK BOOK
I know the Godolphin filly Atheri looked pretty good winning at her debut but I want to follow the colt that ran 2nd Accession.

Assession had only one soft trial leading into his debut here and I can see he may have plenty of improvement to come.

RIDE OF THE DAY
Apprentice Robbie Dolan has ridden a few city winners of late and he rated Arraignment beautifully in front.

Robbie rides very light and is good value taking his full allowance on these lightly weighted horses.