Trainer Donna Scott welcomes prizemoney increases announced by Racing NSW

The NSW racing industry will be competing for record prizemoney of $358m in the 2022-23 season with significant prizemoney boosts for country, provincial and metropolitan racing.

From September 1, country TAB minimum prizemoney will increase from $25,000 to $27,000.

Significantly two races at every TAB country race meeting will now also be restricted to NSW country-trained horses.

Picnic minimum prizemoney will also go up from $5000 to $7000, non-TAB from $10,000 to $12,000 and Sky Two from $15,000 to $16,000.

In a further bonus, Highway Handicaps will rise from $100,000 to $120,000.

The Kosciuszko which already was the richest race for country trained horses has been boosted from $1.3 million to $2 million.

Racing NSW also unveiled a massive $125m infrastructure package with an emphasis on improving racing and training tracks, and stabling facilities.

"Any rise in prizemoney is great news," Scott said.

"The part that interested me was the money allocated to improve training facilities.

"It's no secret that Albury's facilities are due for an upgrade and hopefully it can happen sooner rather than later.

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"I'm not sure if Racing NSW announced specifically what clubs are getting what and who is first in the queue.

"The Highway Handicaps are worth big dollars considering you don't have to race against city trained horses.

"Another good concept is having two races at every TAB country race meeting being restricted to NSW country-trained horses.

"Quite often you get some of those bigger stables like Hayes' crossing the Border and not having to compete against them in at least two races is an advantage for us smaller trainers for sure.

"So it's all positive news."

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