Murrumbidgee Turf Club (MTC) will host its richest Gold Cup carnival in history next year courtesy of a massive cash splash from Racing NSW.
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The Wagga Town Plate (1200m) moves alongside the Wagga Gold Cup (2000m) as the city's richest race with both now worth $200,000.
The Gold Cup carnival itself received an injection of $135,000 to take total prizemoney to $945,000 over the two big days at Wagga.
All the big country carnivals across the state proved winners with prizemoney also increased for the Gundagai and Albury carnivals.
This year's Snake Gully Cup (1400m) will be worth $100,000 for the first time, while the Albury Gold Cup also moved to $200,000.
MTC chief executive Steve Keene believes the increase in prizemoney further cements the Wagga carnival among the best in the country.
"It's fantastic. It really does cement the Wagga carnival as one of the leading carnivals in Australia, not just NSW so it's really exciting times for the MTC," Keene said.
The latest increase completes an amazing rise for the Wagga Town Plate, which was worth just $65,000 in 2012.
It now sits alongside Grafton's Ramornie Handicap and the Dark Jewel Quality at Scone as the richest sprints in country racing.
"It makes it a genuine two-day carnival, where you have the $200,000 race on the Thursday and then a $200,000 Cup, with the other races on the Friday," Keene said.
"If you have a 2000 metre horse and a 1200 and you're from anywhere between Melbourne to Sydney then it's really worth a trip down."
The Gold Cup was taken from $170,000 to $200,000, while the Town Plate jumped from $150,000.
The Queen of the South (1400m) increased from $40,000 to $75,000, while the race for country NSW-trained horses only, now called the Country Magic, was boosted $20,000 to $50,000 at Wagga, Gundagai and Albury.
Gundagai's Snake Gully Cup rose from $70,000 to $100,000, while the Snake Gully Flying was boosted from $35,000 to $50,000.
The Albury Gold Cup (2000m) received a $20,000 increase to $200,000, while the Flat Knacker ($75,000), City Handicap ($75,000) and Albury Mile ($50,000) also increased by a total of $60,000.
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