As part of the ARC £1,000,000 All-Weather Bonus initiative, the Horse Of The Month prize for October and November will be shared by the Kevin Ryan trained Barnaby and the David Simcock trained Hitched with the duo tied at the top of the leaderboard on 15 points. Connections of both horses will split the first and second prize of £20,000 and £10,000, receiving £15,000 each.
Now in its third season, the ARC £1,000,000 All-Weather Bonus runs from Tuesday 22nd October and will culminate on Good Friday, 18th April 2025.
Points are awarded for finishing in 1st place down to 5th, and the horse with the most overall points at the end of the season will receive a bonus of £100,000 and be crowned Horse of The Year. Points are accrued in a horse’s first three runs in any monthly period at Lingfield Park, Newcastle, Southwell and Wolverhampton.
The five Horse of the Month competitions will operate in October/November, December, January, February and March/April. Similar to last season, the January competition will join February and March/April in offering £70,000 worth of prizes to the top three horses.
Barnaby followed up his victory at Newcastle in September with three more wins at the track throughout October and November, beating the Gemma Tutty trained, King’s School, into second on his last two starts.
Hitched also racked up three wins throughout October and November winning twice at Lingfield before completing his hattrick at Newcastle, with Luke Morris doing the steering on all three occasions.
Trainer, David Simcock, said:
“We take these bonuses really seriously. Hitched really fit the profile for this one. The All-Weather Horse of The Month bonus is such an incentive for certain owners who have these types of slightly older horses who don’t quite reach the heights we want them to, and it’s great to win it this month with Hitched.”
Two horses also shared the £5,000 third prize, as JKR Cobbler trained by Iain Jardine and Tasever trained by Patrick Morris, both won two races and finished second in another during October and November. Connections of each horse will receive a £2,500 bonus.
For more information on the ARC £1,000,000 All-Weather Bonus Scheme, please visit https://www.arenaracingcompany.co.uk/racing/the-all-weather-bonus
