Countdown To The 2008 Karaka Million

Countdown to the 2008 Karaka Million

The heat has gone on two-year-olds around the country as they jostle to make the starting line-up in the first one million dollar Karaka Million at Ellerslie on Sunday 27 January.

The NZ Herald Christmas Carnival at Ellerslie played host to one of the most lucrative and hotly contested juvenile races of the season, the $75,000 Group 3 Stella Artois Eclipse Stakes (1200m) on New Year's Day, with eight of the eleven starters eligible to earn money towards a place in the fourteen-horse field.

With winner Lady Alberton (Golan - Alberton Star) not entered in the Karaka Million, it was placegetters Maureen Dorothy (Spartacus - Avelina) and San Bernardino (Gold Mine - Miss Katella) who benefitted from the stakes on offer. Third place was enough to give San Bernardino the edge on the 336 eligible Karaka Million contenders, overtaking Vincent Mangano (No Excuse Needed - Rationable) to now lead the current order of entry.

The top twenty on the current Order of Entry are as follows:

Name / Breeding / Stakes Earned to 3 January 2008

* San Bernardino / Gold Mine - Miss Katella / $77,250

* Vincent Mangano / No Excuse Needed - Rationable / $72,440

* Silk Spur / Rusty Spur - Silk Purse / $23,875

* Nuke Time / Choisir - Chloella / $21,200

* Amazing Sky / Danroad - Quasi Stellar / $19,000

* Sir Invincible (AUS) / Invincible Spirit - Muffin McLay / $18,500

* Maureen Dorothy / Spartacus - Avelina / $15,825

* Concerto / Stravinsky - Rodrigo Rose / $13,850

* I Robot / Ishiguru - Echo Beach / $13,550

* Al Qurhah / Stravinsky - Belle Ville / $11,375

* Solo Flight / Stravinsky - Fayreform$5,875

* He's Licarocket (AUS) / Easy Rocking - Triplina / $5,000

* Aetherius / Stravinsky - Ethereal / $4,550

* Raid / Pins - Vanilla Sky / $4,550

* Noble Manor / Stravinsky - Sarwatch / $4,463

* The Grogoch (AUS) / Tobougg - Kiri Belle / $4,300

* Fully Fledged / Align - Fledged / $4,063

* Fyfetheknife / Spartacus - Fontana / $3,375

* Balzane / Van Nistelrooy - Dramatically / $3,000

* Pure Strike / Volksraad - Pure Intrigue / $2,500

The $100,000 Group 2 Ford Wakeful Challenge Stakes (1200m) on 19 January at Ellerslie is the richest race for two-year-olds still to be contested in the lead up to the big event, with ten other two-year-old fixtures around the country giving the chance to earn valuable prize money.

The Karaka Million Order of Entry is published on the New Zealand Bloodstock website and will be updated daily between now and the 27 January.

ENDS

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