One of South Australia’s key two-year-old races has found itself a place at the end of the racing season, with the Group 3 SAJC Sires’ Produce Stakes to be the final juvenile stakes race of 2023/24.
The Sires’ Produce has been held at Morphettville in May since 2017 and before that was held in April from 2008 and 2017.
Former winners of the 1400-metre race include future Group 1 winners Go Indy Go, Rebel Raider and Lashed, but it will now be used as a possible launching pad for early spring features after the race was moved to July 20 this year.
“With the changes in the two-year-old autumn program, we are looking forward to hosting the last black type two-year-old race of the season,” Racing SA, Racing Operations Manager, Greg Rudolph said.
“We expect to a lot of interest in the race and we hope that is reflected in strong nominations from local and interstate trainers.”
“The change also improves the flow of the late season juvenile program, allowing trainers that have targeted the Oaklands Plate this Saturday at Morphettville, to have a 1400-metre lead up to the Sires' next month at the same distance, which we expect to work well.”
The Oaklands Plate was held in mid-July last year and was won by Coco Sun, who returned to Morphettville to win the Group 1 South Australian Derby in May.
Future Robert Sangster Stakes winner Instant Celebrity won the same race in 2020.
"The Oaklands (this year) with a full field of fourteen, shapes as a strong representation of local and interstate horses and will be a likely indicator of the strength of the Sires' Produce in three weeks' time,” Rudolph said.
“We expect to a lot of interest in the race and we hope that is reflected in strong nominations from local and interstate trainers.” - Greg Rudolph
Adelaide’s late season stakes races have also been used in recent times to build the spring campaigns of future Group 1 stars such as Nature Strip, Sunlight, and Viddora.
Those three all came through the Lightning Stakes (Listed), which will round off the South Australian black-type program on July 27. The race is eligible for both two and three year olds.
Rudolph said the late season changes were designed to capitalise on the momentum created by a successful carnival during April and May.
“We have had an excellent response to prizemoney increases in general, including the successfully revamped Adelaide Racing Carnival, considered programming to bolster metropolitan field sizes and strong support from consultation with stakeholders, who are on board with these changes,” he said.
