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The Singapore Turf Club will be making a series of changes to some existing initiatives and these changes will take effect from 1 April 2019. They are:

1. Restructuring of Subsidies and Incentives;

2. Revision of feature race prizemoney; and

3. Adjustment to Class Rating Bands

 1.    Restructuring of Subsidies and Incentives

At present, the Club provides various forms of subsidies and incentives to owners and trainers of Singapore-based horses. These include subsidies relating to stable rental, horse feed, horse bedding, utilities, syces overtime allowance and the Reward Incentive Scheme. In restructuring these initiatives, the Club has simplified the scheme into one which is reward-based rather than subsidy-based.

Under the revised Reward Incentive Scheme, the credit incentive and the number of qualifying horses will be increased. The credit incentive for owners will be increased from $900 to $1,350 while owners of the 4^th last placed horse to 2^nd last placed horse, who do not qualify under the present scheme, will now receive $450 credit incentive. The 1^st and last placed horse in each race will remain not be paid under the revised scheme. An example of the payment for fourteen (14) starters under the revised Reward Incentive Scheme is shown in Table 1.

 Table 1 

With the revision to the Reward Incentives Scheme, the Club will withdraw the subsidies for stable rental, horse feed, horse bedding, utilities and syces overtime allowance.

2.    Revision of Feature Race Prizemoney

In November 2018, the Club announced revision to prizemoney for non-feature races, which was implemented with effect from 1 January 2019. Following a review of the feature race prizemoney, the Club has made revision to the prizemoney of feature races with effect from 1 April 2019 as shown in Annex A. As the Chairman’s Trophy was rescheduled from 3 March to 7 April 2019, its prizemoney will remain at $500,000.

Following feedback from some stakeholders, the Club will reinstate the Singapore Four-Year-Old Challenge. The first Leg of the series will be named the Silver Bowl over 1400m for four-year-olds under set-weight condition with prizemoney of $175,000 and will be held on 9 June 2019. The Stewards’ Cup (second Leg) will be run on 30 June 2019 over 1600m with the third and final Leg, Singapore Derby to be run on 21 July 2019. 

3.    Adjustment to Class Rating Bands

 To simplify and improve the racing opportunities for horses in Singapore, the Club will be implementing the following adjustment to the class rating bands for Class 1 to 5 races with effect from 1 April 2019:

The greater overlaps between Classes will provide trainers and owners with more flexibility and opportunities to plan suitable races for their horses. With the adjustment in class rating bands, the Club also hopes to conduct more races and provide additional racing opportunities for horses in the coming year.   

Click here for Annex A.