INTRODUCTION

The Global Sprint Challenge enters its fourth cycle in 2008 following victories in 2005 for Hong Kong’s Cape of Good Hope and in 2006 for Australia’s

Takeover Target.

Miss Andretti won both Australian legs in 2007 and followed up in the King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot, leading home an amazing first, third and fourth for the Australian contingent that day. She remains on course to attempt to build on her unassailable lead in this year’s challenge in the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Sprint in December.

Miss Andretti has been the undoubted star of world sprinting in 2007, but special mention must also go to the three horses who travelled with her from

Australia to Royal Ascot this year, after all the four of them cumulatively arrived in the UK with 13 Group One victories behind them. Following their dominance of the King’s Stand Stakes, probably the highest quality sprint race run on turf anywhere in the world so far this year, only the resolute Soldier’s Tale revented a second Australian victory at Royal Ascot, denying last year’s champion Takeover Target in the final strides of the Golden Jubilee.

The first three years of the Global Sprint Challenge have added much to the sprinting scene but it is always necessary to make improvements where

possible and in 2008, there are two important changes to the format.

Firstly, the second Australian leg will now be the Group One Age Classic to be run by the Victoria Racing Club (VRC) at Flemington on Saturday 8 November, the final day of the world famous Spring Carnival. It is hoped and expected, as has been the case with the Emirates Melbourne Cup run just a few days earlier, that this race will quickly become an attractive option for international horses.

The Age Classic replaces the Australia Stakes in February. The Coolmore Lightning Stakes, having provided the last two King’s Stand Stakes winners,

will naturally kick off the series once again.

I would like to thank Rod Fitzroy, Chairman of the VRC, for his and his team’s enthusiasm for hosting both Australian Global Sprint Challenge races next

year at Australia’s premier racecourse.

The second major change to the programme is the addition of the Darley July Cup at Newmarket as a third European leg, and prize money increases to all

three British legs.

The July Cup remains the only British race to have been won by a Japanese-trained horse (Agnes World in 2000) and has since proven itself a major

international event with the participation of the likes of Choisir, Exceed And Excel, Takeover Target and Bentley Biscuit from Australia.

The July Cup has been increased in value in 2008 from £375,000 to £400,000 (approximately US$800,000), whilst both Royal Ascot races have also received a further cash injection – the King’s Stand Stakes, the UK’s most international race this decade, has been increased from £200,000 to £250,000 approximately US$500,000) and the Golden Jubilee Stakes is up from £350,000 to £375,000 (approximately US$750,000).

The triple-header of Global Sprint Challenge races in the UK therefore now offers over £1,000,000 (US$2,000,000) in prize money.

The bonus criteria remains the same as in 2007.To qualify for the US$1,000,000 payout, a horse has to win a Group One Global Sprint Challenge race in three out of four participating countries, and run in any Global Sprint Challenge race in all four countries.

Splitting the Australian legs opens all sorts of exciting options, allowing as it does for horses to begin the bonus chase in the Lightning Stakes in Australia or in the UK at Royal Ascot or Newmarket.

We eagerly await this exciting new chapter of the world's premier racing series and encourage connections of the best sprinters from the four continents to take up the challenge.

Bernard Saundry

Acting Chief Executive

Racing Victoria Limited