Champion sprinter Hay List who won Saturday’s Newmarket Handicap has been given an exclusive invitation to race in the $1 million AAMI Stradbroke during the Channel Seven Brisbane Racing Carnival.

Race fees and travel expenses for Hay List will be covered by the Australasian Challenge, a
new invitational scheme designed to attract Australasia’s best racing champions to Brisbane’s
winter racing carnival.

The new initiative, which is jointly funded by the Brisbane Racing Club and Events Queensland,
aims to create a unique end of racing season show-down.

Brisbane Racing Club Chairman Kevin Dixon said he was looking forward to seeing Hay List in
the Sunshine State for what is going to be an epic state of origin style clash.

The greatest races always involve great horses and Hay List will definitely make for a great
race, he said.

Our vision is to create the ultimate showdown of Australasia’s racing champions here in
Brisbane, setting a new benchmark in Australian racing which champions our local industry.

Horses become eligible for the invitational scheme if they win select sprint legs or Oaks races in
Australasia in the lead up to the Brisbane Racing Carnival.

Invitations to the million dollar race have already been sent to Winterbottom Stakes winner,
Ortensia, and the NZ Telegraph Stakes winner, Guiseppina.

Winners of the upcoming T.J. Smith Stakes at Royal Randwick in April and The Goodwood at
Morphettville in May will also be invited to the prestigious race.

Winning staying fillies from selected races will also be invited to compete in the $400,000
Group 1 Treasury Casino Queensland Oaks (2400m), Mr Dixon said.

“The Australasian Challenge will be the ultimate trifecta – the nation’s best horses, in a first class
racing carnival, located in the state which has the best winter weather.

Hay List’s trainer John McNair will have an added $100,000 incentive on offer following a
partnership with Brisbane BMW and Westside BMW.

“Any trainer whose horse places in the top four in both the Doomben 10,000 and the Stradbroke
Handicap will have a chance to select 1 of 50 keys which unlock a new BMW 5 Series Sedan
with a retail value of $95,139 drive away,” Mr Dixon said.

“Should no trainer achieve that feat, the winning trainer of the Stradbroke Handicap will be
extended that opportunity.

We feel this is yet another opportunity to reward trainers for supporting our carnival bypreparing their horses to run in our feature events.

The 2012 Channel Seven Brisbane Racing Carnival will take place at Doomben and Eagle Farm Racecourses between May 12 and June 9.

The $1 million AAMI Stradbroke will be run on Saturday, June 9 with the $400,000 Treasury
Casino QLD Oaks run the week earlier on Saturday, June 2. Both events will be held at Eagle
Farm Racecourse.