In January 2023, the extremely smart miler, Royal Aussie won the inaugural World Sports Betting Gold Rush at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth to secure a lucrative bounty for exhilarated connections.
The Justin Snaith trained son of Royal Mo staved off Dave the King by half a length, with It’sRainingwilliam and King Regent nearby in a dramatic finish.
Royal Mo cost R300 000 at the Cape Premier Yearling Sale of 2021 and has won close to R5.5 million in stakes for owners, Suzette and Basie Viljoen, Dr Jill Warner & Dane Squance.
The second staging of this exciting event, modelled on The Everest in Australia and offering R7.5 million in prize money, is just around the corner.
It will be staged on World Sports Betting Cape Town Met, on Saturday, 27 January 2024, and savvy prospectors are closely following the guidelines of the qualifying log and confirming partnership arrangements in anticipation of the big event.
Thirteen of the sixteen places have already been taken with three slots still available for purchase at a prospector buy–in of R400 000.
Even a fifth-place finish would cover that speculation, while hugely profitable returns ratchet up exponentially with the winner of the World Sports Betting Gold Rush 11 collecting R5 million!
King Of The Gauls – a big mover on the log! (Pic – Candiese Lenferna)
Indeed, there are substantial incentives across the board for getting involved. Second prize is worth a cool million Rand; 3rd place garners a stake of R600 000, and the fourth spot brings in R500 000.
The race is open to three-year-old graduates of the 2022 Cape Premier Yearling Sale and will be run at Weight for Age with colts and geldings slated to heft 60kg’s, while fillies will carry 57.5kg’s.
The distance remains a classic test over 1600m at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth on the turf – one of the fairest, most genuine galloping tracks anywhere in the world with its gently sweeping bends and wide 600m long, level straight.
Hollywoodbets Kenilworth is a stylishly upgraded entertainment venue undergoing a complete metamorphosis since dynamic operators Hollywoodbets and Greg Bortz’s consortium stepped in.
In a matter of months, they have heroically revitalised a facility with a rich and storied history, that had fallen on hard times.
As things currently stand, this is the 6 December Top 25 Log, based on Official Merit Ratings, with Graduates listed in descending order:
Very impressive start-to-finish 1200m weekend winner, King of the Gauls, is the big log mover, from 19th up to 12th spot.
Whether he gets a mile or not is debatable, but he will next race on Saturday, 30 December over either that distance – or 1400m – to see if he does indeed stay. He remains an exciting talent.
The 13 confirmed Gold Rush 11 prospectors to date, are:
- World Sports Betting
- Ridgemont
- Bass Racing
- Klawervlei Stud
- Rikesh Sewgoolam
- Jayson Murugasa
- Capstone 335 (Pty) Ltd
- David Abery
- Suzette & Basie Viljoen
- I L Racing (Ian Levitan)
- Mano Pandaram
- Laurence Wernars
- Hollywood Syndicate
For further information on qualifying criteria, specific race conditions, available slots and links to the upcoming CPYS auction on Thursday, 25 January 2024, check out www.caperacingsales.co.za/gold-rush-ii/
- Press release by Cape Racing on 11 December 2023
