Horse Racing $4 million Queen Elizabeth headlines Sydney's revamped $18m carnival as Murray Baker says: "Count me in"
MURRAY Baker was one of the first trainers to confirm his superstar It's A Dundeel would target the new $4 million Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) at Royal Randwick. "We'll be going for it,'' said Baker, who will definitely have no shortage of rivals in town next autumn after officials unveiled arguably the biggest Sydney carnival shake-up ever. Dubbed The Championships, the two Saturday meetings - to be run on April 12 and April 19 at Randwick - will feature eight Group 1s, headed by the Queen Elizabeth, with a staggering $18.2 million prizemoney up for grabs. But one question punters will be asking this morning is why the Queen Elizabeth - and not the time-honoured Doncaster Mile - was given top billing? While the Doncaster jumps from $2 million to $3 million in prizemoney, the Queen Elizabeth rocketed from what now seems a paltry $500,000 to $4 million. Racing NSW chairman John Messara said it wasn't an easy decision to promote the Que...