SEPTEMBER 25: MANIKATO STAKES meeting at MOONEE VALLEY

OCTOBER 3: EPSOM-METROPOLITAN Super Saturday at RANDWICK

FOOTBALL fans who love their racing have two great opportunities to combine both with spectacular weekends away when the AFL and NRL grand finals are played soon.

Those heading to Melbourne for the AFL Grand Final next Saturday, September 26, can take in the opening of night racing at Moonee Valley on Friday when the Group 1 Manikato and Group 2 Stutt Stakes will be run.

The NRL Grand Final is set down for Sydney on Sunday week, October 4, one day after the Super Saturday at Randwick when four Group 1s, the Epsom, Metropolitan, Spring Champion and Flight Stakes are run.

Moonee Valley Racing Club, which recently announced a prizemoney boost of $2.5 million for the current season, will conduct 18 night meetings during the 2009-2010 season for almost $9 million in prizemoney.

The night racing model for the current season has been enhanced with 10 Premium Valley Night meetings programmed. MVRC chairman, Bob Scarborough, believes this strategy was designed to increase attendances, wagering and the quality of fields across the night racing season.

The $500,000 Group 1 Sportingbet Manikato Stakes will headline the launch of the night racing season at the Valley on Grand Final Eve – Friday, September 25. This program will also feature the running of the $175,000 G2 Stutt Stakes.

There is no racing in Melbourne on Grand Final day with the feature meeting being the Ansett Handicap at Mornington but Sandown will race on Sunday, September 27, for those wanting to back up at the gallops after the football.

With Aussie Rules fans heading to Melbourne on this weekend for the big game, the Moonee Valley meeting on the Friday night could not be better timed and is destined to attract a big crowd.

ONE week later and the football spotlight will focus on Sydney for the National Rugby League grand final but this threatens to be overshadowed by the Arrowfield Stud Super Saturday at Randwick.

The program of four Group 1 races on the one day provides an added bonus for those planning to be in Sydney that weekend. The feature races include the Epsom Handicap, The Metropolitan, Spring Champion Stakes and Flight Stakes.

The Epsom Handicap, named in honor of the famous English racecourse, was first run in 1865. It has been won by many great milers, including Gunsynd and Super Impose. It was won last year by the Gai Waterhouse-trained Theseo, which was recently named NSW Horse of the Year.

Waterhouse is building a great record in the Epsom, which was dominated by her late dad, Tommy Smith, who trained seven winners of the race.

Malcolm Johnston won the Epsom three times – twice for TJ on Imposing and Bold Diplomat in 1979 and 1980 and then on Magnitude in 1984 for trainer Margaret Bull, one of the first women trainers to win a major race.

Kevin Langby won on a great Epsom favorite, Gunsynd – the Goondiwindi Grey – in 1971. Larry Olsen, now a presenter with Sky Channel, won in 1972 on Triton and 15 years later on Sound Horizon.

The youngest jockey to win the Epsom was Jim McHugh who in 1898, at just 11 years of age, won with Robin Hood. He was only five years older than his horse and weighed a mere 4st 4lb (27.25kg).

The AJC Metropolitan has been around since 1866. Many famous names appear on its honor board including Kevin Langby who rode the winner four times and Peter Cook (three). In the 70s, T J Smith had a stranglehold on the race winning it five times in seven years. It has been won over the years by Melbourne Cup winner Arwon, Tails twice (1969-70), Macdougal, Delta and Tim Whiffler back in 1867.

The Manikato Stakes, a Group 1 race run over 1200m at Moonee Valley, was named after a great horse that won the William Reid Stakes on five consecutive years at this track from 1979 to 1983. He also won this race twice in 1979 and 1982.

The Manikato has been won by some great horses including Winfreux, Vain, Dual Choice, Century and Tauto in its early days and Sunline, Spark of Life, Miss Andretti and Gold Edition in more recent times.

The Manikato has become a qualifying race for America’s Breeders’ Cup in November. The winner will earn an automatic berth into the $US1 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Santa Anita in California.

The Stutt Stakes, over a mile for three-year-olds, might take a support role to the Manikato at the opening of the Valley night racing season but has proved a launching pad for some top gallopers over the years. It was won last year by the brilliant Whobegotyou.

Over the past four decades winners and placegetters in the Stutt Stakes (until 1990 Moonee Valley Stakes) have gone on to win five Cox Plates, nine Victoria Derbys and two Caulfield Cups.

There are a host of tour companies with packages taking in both the AFL and NRL grand final weekends and combining these with the horse racing. One of particular note has been offered by the Brisbane-based Ambassador Travel, which has four and seven day packages to Sydney visiting stud farms in the Hunter Valley ahead of the races and football.