A spate of abandoned meetings this season will have a positive spinoff for the Otago Racing Club's meeting at Wingatui on July 28.
A record 140 meetings have been called off across New Zealand this season due to bad weather, 39 more than last season, which was the highest number in a decade.
New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing has elected to divert prize money not paid out from the abandoned meeting in to the seven remaining midweek meetings across the country from Friday.
The funding has come from the unpaid prize money and NZTR maintaining its core operating expenses for the fourth straight year.
All open handicaps at midweek meetings will now carry $25,000 purses while rating 75 and rating 85 races will increase to $17,500.
Rating 65, 2yr-old and 3yr-old races will be run for $15,000 and all other maiden races will be worth $10,000.
Wingatui has one open handicap, two rating 85 races, two rating 65 races and two maidens programmed for July 28.
''The board has determined therefore that additional prize money should be provided to compensate stakeholders for the record number of meeting and race abandonments that have occurred this season,'' NZTR chief executive Greg Purcell said.
The other meetings to receive a funding boost are Matamata, Avondale, Awapuni, Ashburton, Rotorua and Waverley.
Standard prize money levels will return from August 1, the start of the new season.
