Inaugurated 1981 Distance 1600m (1 mile) Purse 240,000 NZD | Website Levin Racing Club Surface Turf | |
Location Trentham Racecourse, Wellington, (2014-)
Otaki Racecourse (1991-2012)
Levin Racecourse (1981-1990) Race type Thoroughbred - Flat racing | ||
The Group One Levin Classic - formerly the Bayer Classic - is one of the premier races for three-year-old thoroughreds in New Zealand.
For much of its history, the Classic was run at Otaki on the last Friday in November. Since 2014 it has been run at Trentham as part of the Wellington Cup Carnival in January.
History
The race, first run under the name Levin Turf Classic, was originally run at Levin Racecourse until that facility was closed as a racing venue in 1990 and the race was transferred to nearby Otaki.
For more than a decade the race was sponsored by Bayer, a name by which many people still know the race.
Concern began to grow in the 2000s about the race's close proximity to the New Zealand 2000 Guineas and New Zealand 1000 Guineas, both run in the second week in November. The three Group 1 3-year-old races over a mile in the New Zealand racing season were all run within the space of three weeks, leading to an inevitable dilution of quality of fields. It September 2013 it was announced the race would be transferred to Trentham in Wellington and staged on the first day of Wellington Cup Week in January.
Among the most famous winners are Bonecrusher, Veandercross, O'Reilly, Russian Pearl and Wahid.