Sensational Sunday

JOEL RITCHIE

MORE than $500,000 will be up for grabs on a single Kembla Grange card for the first time at the Illawarra Turf Club’s (ITC) inaugural Sensational Sunday on April 6.

The ITC has opted to condense its three feature autumn races into a single program.

It is hoped that the Sensational Sunday concept will become as popular as the club’s annual Melbourne Cup meeting.

“We would like it to be as big as our Melbourne Cup race day – that is not much of a meet locally but we get about eight or nine thousand through Kembla Grange because of its timing,” ITC chairman Peter DeVries said.

“We would like Sensational Sunday to be as big as those meetings at the end of a three-to-five-year period.”

Mr DeVris hoped between 3500-4500 punters would flock to Kembla Grange for the meeting, the first held on a Sunday at Kembla since the Sydney Olympic Games.

“If we can get that many to this year’s meeting, that would put us on target,” he said.

Holding the event on a Sunday would give the Illawarra community a sense of ownership.

“We want it to be one of the better regional meetings in NSW – one of the best,” Mr DeVries said.

Sensational Sunday would fall in the middle of the Sydney Autumn Carnival – the feature event, the $150,000, 1600m Keith F. Nolan Classic, is expected to attract the nation’s best three-year-old fillies before they head to the big smoke.

Other races on the Sensational Sunday card include the $100,000, 1600m Kembla Grange Cup and 1300m The Freeway, which boasts $100,000 in prize money.

The day won’t just be for racing enthusiasts – Myer will sponsor fashions on the field while one punter will win a Ford Fiesta courtesy of Harrigan Ford.

Albion Park-based Miss World NSW Katie Richardson, has been selected as the face of the event.