Stakes

[We're Doomed 4,866]

Just a quick question re stakes. I notice from looking at the order of entry for the Karaka sweep-stake thing  that a horse who runs down the track in any other race gets its appearance fee counted when determining the order of entry for the Karaka. So a horse that ran last in the Eclipse or Wakefield, earning $2,000 just for turning up,  has a much greater chance of earning a start than a horse that runs second and earns $1,500 in an open 2yo race at an industry meeting. Seems weird to me. A horse that ran last in both the races I mentioned above would almost be assured of a start in the sweep-stake. It does seem like an easy way to gain a start without putting too much stress on the horse.

I see to recall the Derby conditions where changed a few years ago so that appearance money wasn't counted when determining order of entry for that race. Surely stakes money should only be the first four or five horses home in any race. The other placings are just appearance fees.

[We're Doomed 4,866]

And on a slightly related subject; I notice only six horses didn't earn appearance money on New Year's Day at Ellerslie. Run last in a seven horse 2yo race and get $2,000. Run last in the City of Auckland Cup and get $4,000. Run 15th in another race and get nothing.

Could someone explain to me the logic or common sense of the 14th horse home in any race getting appearance money and the 15th horse getting nothing. Could we see the situation in a 15 horse race where the trainer tells the jockey "for god's sake don't run last". What would the stipes do in a 15 horse race if two horses are hopelessly out classed and tailed off but both are being thrashed by their jockeys as they don't want to run last.

It does seen particularly harsh when $14,000 of so called stakes money isn't even paid out in a seven horse $100,000 race, so it is really an $86,000 race. You would think they could at least use some of that money to make a token contribution to the poor bugger who runs 15th in another race.