Delight as yearling bonus scheme passes magical 2,000 mark.

Byline: Nancy Sexton

WITH the deadline for nominations to the Racing Post Yearling Bonus looming, scheme co-ordinator Tim Jones yesterday reported that registrations to the bonus had surpassed the 2,000 mark. The final deadline to nominate yearlings is tomorrow.

Jones was understandably delighted with the number of nominations. He said: "We have seen in excess of 1,000 registrations come in over the past week, which is testament to the popularity of the scheme. With two days still to go before the deadline, we are anticipating that our dream target of 2,500 yearlings may be exceeded.

"We are naturally delighted at the support the scheme has received from vendors and look forward to that support being rewarded at sale time."

The scheme received further support yesterday from trainers who are hopeful that the lure of a pounds 10,000 bonus will attract new owners while keeping those already involved interested.

They include Tom Dascombe, the trainer of Barzan, who collected a pounds 10,000 breeze up bonus this season when winning a maiden at Brighton.

He said: "I think it is a great incentive and it's fantastic that people have put this initiative together, especially when the industry is in a bad way.

"We can hope that it will attract more owners but, most importantly, I hope that it will help to maintain the ones we've already got."

William Haggas is similarly positive about the bonus and cites the success of the breeze-up bonus as a reason why the scheme must be supported.

"I've trained a winner of a breeze-up bonus and that scheme was a success, so you'd have to hope that the yearling bonus will be as well."

He added: "Any initiative like this must be encouraged and supported. I hope it will attract new owners - it is better than doing nothing."

Patrick Haslam has trained three bonus winners and, although sceptical of how the bonus races will be selected, he is supportive. He said: "This scheme must be applauded and there is no question that vendors needed someting to help sell their products and to help beleaguered owners and trainers.

"However, personally I would like to see a proper framework of claiming races installed during the first three months of the Flat season to give owners a decent chance of getting their money back quickly."

Nomination forms can be downloaded at racingpost.com/ yearlingbonus and can be faxed to Weatherbys on [phone], or emailed to yearling [e-mail].