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Ahead of the first $1 million horse race in Adelaide, a local trainer is urging the South Australian Government to do even more to promote the state's racing calendar to trainers and jockeys.
The prizemoney on offer for this weekend's feature race, the UBET Classic, has helped attract some big names to Adelaide, including trainer Gai Waterhouse and Brazilian-born jockey João Moreira.
The SA Government funding injection for the state's racing industry has ensured $1 million prize money for the UBET Classic and Darley Goodwood, while the SA Derby prize has increased to $600,000.
Lloyd Kennewell, who trains dozens of horses at his Morphettville stables in Adelaide, said this year's bigger prize money was a good start, but the state needed to keep promoting its big races to more trainers and jockeys.
"A horse, roughly per year with training fees, is usually around the $35,000 mark per horse," he said of the costs involved.
"It's not just about these couple of big race meetings that we have, it's the 12 months, all year round, that we need the support.
"The Government has chipped in a little bit, and [Thoroughbred Racing SA] is doing their bit … and hopefully it keeps increasing over the coming years."
Kennewell, who is 33, said many young trainers like himself were still susceptible to the lure of lucrative careers interstate.
"There's been a lot of very successful South Australian trainers that have moved to Victoria and even to Hong Kong — David Hayes is a prime example," he said.
"I've got a good clientele — we're always looking at ways to make our business bigger and better.
"If the Government and the state can support racing here it would [encourage] me to want to stay here, for sure."
Thoroughbred Racing SA chief executive Jim Watters said he was confident the Autumn Racing Carnival starting this weekend could be a turning point for the fortunes of South Australian horse racing.
"I really believe it will prove to be the catalyst for creating something which will be to the betterment of the racing industry," he said.
He said the Autumn Carnival could help boost tourism at a time of year when visitor numbers usually started to ease.
Boosting the prize money for the Adelaide Cup was the racing industry's next big goal, Mr Watters said.
"We believe if we can get a boost in prize money for that — and get the quality of the horses racing in the Adelaide Cup up — then we can then look forward to … becoming a Group One race," he said.
Topics: horse-racing, sport, morphettville-5043, adelaide-5000, sa