After a three-month feast of stakes-boosted high-quality horseracing during the 2022 SA Champions Season on the East Coast reached a heady climax at Hollywoodbets Greyville on 30 July, KwaZulu-Natal horseracing continues to provide outstanding entertainment and competitive horseracing thrills in the summer off-season.
KZN racing action from pillar to post! (Pic – Candiese Lenferna)
As a means of maintaining the momentum and rewarding stakeholders, Hollywoodbets has announced the launch of the innovative multi-faceted R1 million Hollywoodbets Sizzling Summer Challenge, an individual participant league-based challenge that will run parallel to KZN horseracing from Sunday 16 October at Hollywoodbets Greyville, culminating at the night meeting, at the same venue on 30 December.
The Hollywoodbets Sizzling Summer Challenge gives owners, trainers, jockeys and apprentices competing at KZN racecourses during the period the opportunity to win generous prize money based on their performance.
The competition is open to all licensed stakeholders countrywide, irrespective of where they may be permanently based.
In the Owners league, total prize money to the value of R400 000 will be shared amongst the owners of the top 20 horses on the points table at the end of the race meeting on 30 December.
Points will be allocated according to the finishing position of every horse competing in a race in the competition period, with the winner in, for example, a ten-horse field earning ten points and the last placed horse a single point.
The winning owner/s will scoop the top prize of R80 000, with staggered prize money down to the 20th finisher who will receive R5 000.
In the Trainers league, total prize money to the value of R400 000 will be shared amongst the top 20 trainers and the points will be calculated as per the Owners league. An additional element has been added, rewarding the trainer with the top points per runner.
The total points standings table is a straight-line accumulation of points, while the top points per runner will reflect total points earned divided by the total number of runs the relevant trainer’s horses have had. This will provide an average points per runner.
The winning trainer will earn the top prize of R50 000, with staggered prize money down to the 20th finisher who will receive R5 000. The trainer with the best average points per horse will take home R25 000.
In the Jockeys league, total prize money to the value of R220 000 will be shared amongst the top ten jockeys at the end of the race meeting on 30 December. An additional element has also been added, rewarding the jockey with the best strike rate.
Once again, points are allocated according to the finishing position of the individual rider’s mount competing in any KZN race in the competition period.
The winning jockey will scoop the top prize of R60 000, with staggered prize money of R5 000 payable to the 10th finisher. The jockey with the best strike rate will take home R20 000.
In the Apprentice Jockeys league, total prize money to the value of R30 000 will be shared amongst the top six apprentice jockeys at the end of the challenge. An additional element has also been added, rewarding the apprentice with the best strike rate.
Points are allocated according in the same manner as the Jockeys’ competition.
The winning apprentice will scoop the top prize of R10 000, with staggered prize money of R1 000 down to 6th finisher. The apprentice with the best strike rate will take home R5 000.
The Hollywoodbets Sizzling Summer Challenge is set to create a competitive and fun environment where participants and the racing public can follow the fortunes of their favourites on the logs that will be published regularly on the Hollywoodbets blog as the challenge unfolds and the action hots up into the festive season.
The competition rules may be accessed by clicking here.
Hollywoodbets is proud to be a partner with Gold Circle in rewarding Grooms of winners via the Grooms Initiative, which has already put over R2.3 million into the pockets of a key sector of the industry since the launch in 2019. The Grooms will be receiving upwards of R225 000 during the challenge period.
The ever popular free-to-enter Hollywoodbets Punters’ Challenge continues to attract substantial participation from punters at every KZN race meeting, with the current jackpot prize standing at R2 million in KZN.
The competition has been extended by popular demand to the Western Cape, Hong Kong and Singapore. In excess of R400 000 will be won by punters playing this challenge between now and New Year, with the R2-million Jackpot the ever-present target for players.
Hollywoodbets is a proud supporter of South African horseracing.
