Pearl Series Entries Close 31 July

Breeders and owners have until next Wednesday 31 July to nominate their yearling fillies for the enormously lucrative Entain-NZB Insurance Pearl Series.

Following the significant changes that were brought in at the beginning of the current racing season, the fillies and mares entered for the series will race for bigger bonuses than ever – and they can also do so for longer.

On 1 August last year, Pearl bonuses were doubled to $28,000 per race, and the lucrative series has been extended to include five-year-old mares, including mares already registered for the scheme. That means fillies and mares can now race for bonuses throughout their two, three, four and five-year-old seasons.

Under the new bonus structure, a bonus of $20,000 is paid to the winner of a Pearl Series race, with $4000 for second and $2000 for third. The trainer and nominator of a Pearl Series race winner will also receive $1000 each.

In another exciting development, a Super Bonus Race will be run as part of the inaugural Champions Day at Ellerslie on 8 March 2025, carrying $100,000 in bonuses.

A flagbearer for the Pearl Series this season is Te Akau Racing’s Sorcha (NZ) (Burgundy), who won back-to-back Pearl Series races at Riccarton last August. She was the only horse to claim two first-place bonuses during the 2023-24 season.

Those two victories earned Sorcha $40,000 in Pearl Series bonuses, on top of the $65,005 in prize-money she has amassed from her 15 races this season.

“The newly boosted Entain-NZB Insurance Pearl Series bonuses are a fabulous additional payment and incentive to owners on top of the increased stakes on offer,” Te Akau’s David Ellis commented at the time of Sorcha’s Pearl Series double.

“Everything has stepped up since Entain has been involved in New Zealand racing, and the new level of stake increases and bonuses is a brilliant progression for all industry participants.”