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Kavanagh: ‘I Agree With Johnny – We Can’t Rest On Our Laurels With Prize-Money’

Brian Kavanagh has said that he agrees completely with Johnny Murtagh's assertion that Ireland should not be “resting on its laurels” when it comes to prize-money while Irish Racehorse Trainers Association [IRTA] chief Ryan McElligott expressed a wish that the Curragh boss's decision to up the minimum prize fund at the track to €20,000 could stir up similar change among other racecourses.

Leopardstown, Ireland's only other Group 1 Flat track, has followed the Curragh's lead in raising its basement prize-money levels to €15,000. However, leading trainers Joseph O'Brien and Ado McGuinness echoed Murtagh's point that prize-money needs to rise at every level in order to keep the higher-class horses in training in Ireland.

O'Brien said, “We are very lucky in Ireland to have the prize-money levels that we have and to have a government that appreciates our industry. Going forward, we have to be sure that the owners in Ireland–as they do now–want to continue to race their high-class horses in Ireland. “The fundamental thing, when encouraging people to breed and race in Ireland, is to have attractive levels of prize-money. At the moment, we are very lucky to have good prize-money but it could be better, and it is something that everyone has to be very conscious of going forward.”

He added, “We need to encourage owners to race horses in Ireland for their two- and three-year-old careers at a minimum. As the horses get older, they can compete on the international stage. The best way to encourage that is by increasing the prize-money levels across the board domestically. There are good incentives, like the Ballyhane Stakes for example, and there are other target races out there, but we need more of them. We need valuable races to encourage people to keep their Listed/Group 3 horses here and racing for longer. It is prize-money that drives investment in the industry which trickles all the way back down to trainers, jockeys, work riders, farriers and everyone else who is employed within the industry.”

When announcing that no race at the Curragh would be contested for less than €20,000 this season, former Horse Racing Ireland chief executive Kavanagh referenced how the money generated from World Pool helped drive extra income which was then regenerated into prize-money at the track.

It is speculated that the gross revenue generated from World Pool is €500,000 per fixture. That figure is split roughly 70-30 between the racecourse in question and the Tote.

Joseph O'Brien: says he was forced to trade a lot of his Classic prospects | Tattersalls

Kavanagh commented, “We would put a priority on prize-money and would like to do more going forward. This year, we've grown our prize-money from €14.2m to €15.3m for the year. We've upped a couple of the Group 1 races as well-the Tattersalls Gold Cup goes up from €450,000 to €500,000 and the Keeneland Phoenix Stakes will go for €300,000 to €350,000. But across the board, we have tried to increase the prize-money. We try to ensure a sponsor for every race–that's our objective here–and that helps.

“Also, we are putting some of our own resources here at the Curragh into driving prize-money forward. That has been well received but it's only a step in the right direction. We'd like to do more in the coming years on that front. The good thing about raising prize-money, it creates momentum. So, when we raise the minimum value of races, it has a knock-on effect on the next level and the next level after that.”

When asked if the extra income generated by World Pool was the main contributing factor to raising the minimum prize-money levels, Kavanagh responded, “It's a help. We generate media rights through a number of different sources and the World Pool has emerged in the past couple of years as a source. That is one of the areas where we draw our revenue from and that's how our media rights revenue has grown. Look, it's very simple from the Curragh's point of view, we see ourselves as the industry's racecourse. If we make money, it goes to either promoting events here, developing our facilities or driving prize-money. We will always want to offer competitive prize-money and we need to take an international view towards prize-money. If you look at other jurisdictions, we need to ensure our prize-money is competitive in comparison.”

The latest media rights deal for Irish racing is rumored to be worth roughly €250m over a five-year-period with around 80 per cent of the money said to be going directly to the racecourses.

Only a handful of Irish racecourses have the luxury of being selected for World Pool races with Kavanagh outlining a hope that the number of races added to the international schedule can grow in future.

“That's the objective,” he said. “That is dependent on legislation in Hong Kong in particular. They have had restrictions on the number of World Pool days that they can offer. Those restrictions have loosened slightly. Last year for example, we had the Irish Derby card, but this year we have added two races-the Irish 1,000 Guineas and the Tattersalls Gold Cup-to the World Pool, so that is very welcome.

“We will always work with the Hong Kong authorities and the UK Tote Group to drive that further but it is contingent on quality international racing and strong field sizes as well.”

While the raising of the minimum prize levels at the Curragh and Leopardstown was welcomed by IRTA members, it doesn't get away from the fact that many premier handicaps, listed and Group 3 races continue to be run for the same money-and in some cases less money-than over a decade previously.

The Group 3 Park Express S. is a good example of that. Run for a total purse of €100,000 in 2007, the Aidan O'Brien-trained Brilliant (Ire) (Gleneagles {Ire}) took home just €41,100.00 for winning the prize at Irish racing's HQ on the opening day of the season. The total prize on offer was €68,500.

IRTA boss Ryan McElligott | Tattersalls Ireland

McElligott said, “Prize-money is unquestionably a pressing concern for trainers throughout the country. There exists a substantial level of concern that prize-money levels have dropped off from the levels they were at in the first decade of this century. Admittedly, the fixture list has grown, and obviously more fixtures means that the slices of the cake gets smaller. As a major racing jurisdiction, we have to be able to present a prize-money schedule that is attractive to international owners and incentivises people to keep horses in training in Ireland. That is vital.”

He added, “The Curragh have taken the decision to put a minimum value on every race run at the track this season, which is commendable, and I would hope that this could lead to similar movement up and down the country.”

McGuinness, one of the most upwardly mobile trainers in the country, was responsible for five of the 23 Irish-trained runners at Lingfield, Newcastle and Chelmsford on Good Friday.

The second most successful trainer at Dundalk behind O'Brien throughout the past five years, McGuinness pointed to a lack of valuable end-of-season targets on home shores on the all-weather for the horses he travelled to Britain last week.

He explained, “I won three races at the end-of-season fixture at Dundalk and I got €27,000 for the three races in total prize-money. I sent out Star Harbour (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) to finish fourth at Newcastle last week and he earned €14,000. I just feel that something has to be done.”

McGuinness added, “I have to clap the Curragh on the back for raising their minimum prize-money levels. Fair play to them. Maybe other tracks will take note and do the same. But, the prize-money for the listed and Group 3 races in Ireland remains too low compared to England and abroad.

“Not only that, but I won the Joe McGrath Handicap at the Curragh in 2009 with Toufan Express (GB) (Fraam {GB}). He picked up €34,503 for that success. Laugh A Minute (GB) (Mayson {GB}) won the same race last year and picked up only €26,550. How does that make sense?”

O'Brien concluded that, in its current format, the domestic prize-money on offer is not enough to sustain a training operation as big as his Owning Hill.

He explained, “Ultimately, we are traders. It's obvious when you look at our top two-year-olds from last year and where they are in training now. A lot of them have been traded on to Hong Kong and America.

“Sadly, that means we won't be as well-represented as we could have been in the Classics this season because those horses are now racing abroad. That is the bottom line. We understand that and we do what's right for our owners. A lot of that time, that means we have to trade. Sometimes that means we race them on. But the fact of the matter is, people have to trade the way things are with prize-money at the moment.”

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Benefactor and Guardian: Racing’s Friend in the Levy Board

If you follow Alan Delmonte on Twitter or X, or whatever they call it these days, you will know him for his offbeat sense of humour. But as chief executive of the Horserace Betting Levy Board (HBLB) for the past 11 years, he has one of the most serious jobs in British racing, overseeing the distribution of around £100m a year. Delmonte is, to some extent, the sport's Chancellor of the Exchequer, but there is an awful lot of important work going on behind the scenes at the Levy Board that make it not just racing's cash machine but also one of its staunchest guardians.

A recently published progress report on its three-year business plan shone a light on that work, and Delmonte, along with HBLB's chief finance officer Craig Pemberton, gave Emma Berry an overview.

Emma Berry: Racing is facing some serious issues, including the government's proposed affordability checks on punters, which would have an impact on what you do. How are you feeling generally about the state of the racing nation at the moment?

Alan Delmonte: It's a mixed picture, as the recent update set out. And I think from a narrow levy, or financial perspective, we are not in bad shape. Although betting revenue turnover is falling, and the amount bet has fallen, which is a double concern, bookmakers' overall profits seem relatively stable, and that is how the levy is derived.

So that has given some foreseeability and continuity. It is well known that we started the Covid pandemic with quite significant reserves, which we used about half of, but have been able to keep them at around that level. So for us, at least at the moment, it has been a relatively stable background. But we have said to the board that we do need to be cautious, because it won't be sustainable if turnover continues to fall, that bookmakers can't keep making the same amount of money out of declining turnover. And that's why the outcome of the consideration of the risk-based checks process is obviously very important to the sport as a whole, and to us, in terms of long-term security.

EB: At the top end, and even now the middle to top end, things are improving in Britain regarding prize-money. Premier Racing is a new development this year, and there is some extra money at that level. From a more personal position, a particular race won two years ago by a horse in our stable was worth £4,500 to the winner but if he won it this year, it's £3,000 to the winner. That's a 33% drop. At that lower level the pinch is going to be felt, and I wonder about how that will affect ownership numbers and field sizes.

AD: That question of where to put prize-money is financially the biggest question that we have to face every year. On the assumption that we do this from one year to the next, ideally we'd like to have in a lot of these areas a multi-year strategy, not just the prize-money, but for an awful lot of things that we fund, where there is a very clear direction set with a lot of detail, and we set sail with racing on funding that for a longer period.

That doesn't generally exist, which is one of the frustrations and challenges that we have. So we will see how these fixture changes come along. They are part of a two-year trial, but we were explicit in wanting to have a one-year review point for the sort of thing that you're talking about. The board has agreed that we should run the trial, and racing's representative groups have said that it is more important, strategically, to invest more towards these top-end days.

They made the point that the prize-money for the lower-grade races on those days will go up. It's not all money that's going into the top races at the top fixtures. One of the points that we were very keen to make sure was monitored was the effect on core racing. Racing seems to be relatively confident that the effect on those day-to-day cards would be relatively limited.

We will be doing reports for our board every quarter on what's really going on, with a view to recommending whether we can carry on with this funding structure for next year. But the overall principle has been racing's view, that your best route to growth of the sport is through maximising the profile of the bigger events.

It's an assertion rather than something that's based on hard facts and research, but we've gone with this with our eyes open, but with the need to really assess what's happening on the ground as we go along.

Without preempting the review, it would be an odd outcome if these changes ended up with fewer people wanting to put their money into being owners in the sport. There is nowhere in racing's plan that says the outcome that we are satisfied with is if the total number of people interested in participating in the sport goes down. So if we are seeing that – and one of the pieces won't just be the number of owners, it will be what type of owners, which type of horses are they owning – that will need some proper analysis.

EB: There is a feeling of anxiety among some breeders at the moment, and not just in this country. That could obviously have a knock-on effect on the horse population. What struck me in your report is that one of the first things you mention is improvement of the breed. Can you explain a little more about the HBLB's involvement in the breeding sector?

AD: We have three statutory objectives, which are set out in the business plan, and the requirement is for us to spend the money on one or more of them. The board has always taken a serious view of not just spending money on what might be termed day-to-day horseracing expenditure, but also the other two, improvement of the breed and advancement of veterinary science.

We have been the principal supporter of a series of TBA-driven schemes over the past 30 years or more, with the breeders' prize scheme, and over the last 10 years on Plus 10 and on MOPS, the Elite Mares Scheme that we continue to fund, and now GBB [Great British Bonus], which we provide three-quarters of the funding for. These things are all designed to provide incentive and upwardly-mobile ownership and rewards.

We try to get that mix of short-term funding for things like prize-money and regulation, and then the longer-term investment in other areas.

Craig Pemberton: One thing we've done fairly recently was a confidential survey. Around 200 stakeholders were invited to give an opinion on how well we were doing against our own purpose and vision, and it scored well. Relatively lower was the breeding area of what we do. So the board's actions, from having conducted that survey, are that we will make more prominent what we do around breeding.

We spend £2 million-plus on research in the veterinary science and education spheres each year. We will publish some of the research that comes out of that, and make links to those projects. Some of these things are very slow burns over multiple years.

We absolutely get that part of what makes British racing what it is. It's not the perception of quality, but the reality of quality.

EB: I suppose it's always a balance, deciding whether that £2 million should be going into prize-money when we all know what impact a sudden outbreak of a contagious disease can have. It could bring racing to a standstill…

AD: We were one of the main funders of the work that the Animal Health Trust did, and then worked very hard to try to see whether there was a route to survival for the AHT. But the view that the board came to in the end was that what the sport had to focus on was the preservation of the services that were being provided.

We set up the process to ensure the continuity of AHT people that were related to racing. We oversaw the tender process that has seen Rossdale's and Cambridge University take on the functions that were previously carried out by AHT. And those organisations now work under contract, effectively, to the sport, but through us.

And I think that is a good example of where people probably just think things happen, but these extracurricular things do sometimes occur, and it did require quite a lot of extra time and resource to get that over the line. But that's not to say it was all us. Sometimes in these areas there are things that the Levy Board runs itself, and other times, it's a much more collaborative effort.

We work with the ROA and TBA as co-funders of these services, and through the BHA. So it does go on behind the scenes to some extent, but there is quite a lot of thinking that goes on about a disease prevention plan.

It was absolutely essential that the continuity of service was maintained. Obviously it was a great shame that the AHT, as an institution that was supported for 40 years, couldn't go on, but in the end, the bullet had to be bitten. And the priority became, 'Well, how is the sport going to get its disease surveillance and diagnostic service done elsewhere?'

And we've ended up with a more transparent process that has clearer reporting, clearer measurement about who's doing what, and our own committee that we chair, that monitors how those two institutions are doing against the contract.

EB: Are you still able to enjoy going racing? Or do you get ground down by all the politics of it all?

AD: I do, very much so. I don't even find that difficult to say. I think it's still the sport that gets my heart racing, just the way it always has. Work is work, and then the pleasure of seeing the horses actually racing is a different thing, and that's something that I think will always be absolutely at the core of my love of the sport. I'm just incredibly fortunate to be able to do something that's in the sport, but also to be involved in a job and an organisation that covers such a wide range of bases.

CP: I'm just in my fifth year [at the HBLB], and part of the motivation for joining was that I was really interested in the sector. Previously I'd worked at the construction industry training board, another levy organisation, getting apprentices into construction. It was principally about young people and life chances, and that struck me as having a very big parallel with racing.

The CFO role is not just about the numbers, it's a lot more than that. If you can do the role and try and bring some balance and help, particularly for young people, that was part of the motivation for me, as well as finding out about a new sport and a new sector. And it's probably the most complex group ecosystem I've ever come across, but therein lies the challenge, of getting a lot of stakeholders to agree on what can get done, the AHT being a fantastic example. That was literally in my first few months here, and then we had Covid. So it was an interesting start.

EB: It's been a time of fighting plenty of fires, but the cyclical nature of racing and breeding means there's always something to look forward to, albeit in what is a tempestuous business at times.

AD: It's not a job where you can sit there, just making judgements and decisions, and then never having to see anyone again. It is by its nature an environment where you are, in a sense, always accountable for what you're doing, because you're seeing people quite a lot of the time all around the place. You've just got to accept that there is a lot of to-ing and fro-ing with the stakeholders. Yes, we want to try and be clear and open about how we're going to make decisions, or why we've said yes, or why we've said no. But part of that process is an ongoing dialogue.

It's obviously a very fragmented structure, but that structure does manage to come together every day to produce racing at racecourses, and it produces a breeding operation, and all the other infrastructure. So it works. It may not be perfect, but I don't think it's realistic for anyone to keep blaming the structure for things not being done. You just have to work with what you've got, and try and find a way through.

EB: And while acknowledging those pressures, do you feel that it's still aspirational for people from various parts of the word to race and breed in Britain?

AD: It is for that reason, to go back to the Premier Racing point, that we absolutely get that part of what makes British racing what it is. It's not the perception of quality, but the reality of quality that is matched by the people perceiving it.

We want to be encouraging the sport where we can, to take Craig's point, to provide the most professional positive environment for people to come into the sport and work in. We're very supportive of the initiatives that racing has put in place around code of conduct, and all these other associated positive developments that should be necessary in a modern industry.

EB: The Levy Board has been in existence since the 1960s, and at one stage it looked like it would be discontinued. What's the situation now?

AD: There are no plans to abolish the Levy Board. There have been a few attempts over the years. Probably the closest one to abolition was the most recent one, which would have culminated in 2019. The fundamental point there, which is my summary rather than anyone else's, is that if you are going to have a statutory levy, which we do based on an act of parliament, then parliament wants to see that there is a public body accountable for that levy.

And what would have happened under the proposed arrangement was that the responsibility for the levy would have passed over to a private sector racing body. And when push came to shove, parliament wasn't satisfied that that gave the necessary oversight. So maybe a way will be found, or somebody will have the desire to revisit it again and find a way through that. But at the moment, here we are five years on from non-abolition, we have got on with modernising what we do, getting our own systems and processes up to going concern standards, and we are not thinking at all about anything other than long-term continuity.

One thing I'd say about the business plan and the update is that a lot of the things in there have been generated by the Levy Board. They are designed by us, but what we would ideally like to see is the equivalent of those produced by racing so that racing has its own clear aims, objectives, targets, measurements for the sport, over a period of time.

Ideally, our measures become racing's measures. Racing's strategy has been announced as something that will be produced, and the first fruit of that was the 2024 fixture programme. But there are all of these other major areas where we're expecting that there will be a very detailed underpinning strategy and ideally an overarching piece of work that says, 'This is what it all means for the sport.'

It's not easy, but that's what BHA, on behalf of the sport, committed themselves to doing in 2022. And if we can get to a position where we're all working on the same major objectives, which are very transparent, it should help everybody be clear about where the direction of travel is.

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Cheer Up, It Might Never Happen

We've never had it so bad, apparently. That of course depends on whether you're a glass-half-full or half-empty kind of person. Mine has been mostly empty so far in 2024, of the good stuff at least, but the swapping of a decent claret for chai tea has not lowered the spirits as much as might have been imagined at the start of January. In fact, optimism levels are running high in this very small corner of Newmarket at present.

For a start we have made it through storms Isha and Jocelyn with the loss of only one roof tile and a fence panel. There were no loose horses or fallers, and there has been no ice under the hooves of the fresh horses just back from their winter holidays. These sound like minor considerations, but in a small stable, when the horses who live below and the staff who come in every day to ride them feel like family members, every day that passes without dramatic incident is a good day.

Don't get me wrong, I don't skip around every minute of the day being irritatingly upbeat. I have grave concerns over the way racing is heading in some areas, particularly that so many people seem willing to gamble on trading horses but have no interest in racing them. With little acknowledgement of their importance to the Levy, the paltry level of funding for lower-tier races is making it increasingly unsustainable for many of the sport's smaller participants to continue and is in part deterring others to get involved. It is becoming harder not to conclude that there is now no place for the small breeder, the small owner or the small trainer with their lesser horses. That would be a shame.

In the long history of sport, fans have deified the very best, and rightly so. We all need a Pele, a Piggott, a Klopp or a Cecil to sprinkle a little magic. But the sporting public also loves an underdog. Only recently, the exploits of Hewick on Boxing Day reminded us of this. And I long to see another horse of the ilk of Sergeant Cecil or Speciosa in the hands of trainers whose talents lack only the supply of horses.

For a start, what a story. Fresh faces, a new narrative. And then there's the knock-on effect; the hope brought to others in a similar situation, that encouragement to roll the dice.

Racing has always been built on dreams. People come and people go, and new people replace them with that same old dream. Retention is important, of course, and it is hard not to look upon last week's announcement from Andrew and Gemma Brown of Caldwell Construction with anything other than concern. Here are owners who have enjoyed major success, with some exciting young National Hunt prospects on their hands, withdrawing from racing and dispersing their stock, apparently following three recent fatalities among their string. One can sympathise with the Browns while wondering how long jump racing will be tolerated by the general public, particularly in Britain.

Among the other issues of the day are prize-money, concerns over Britain and Ireland becoming nurseries for other racing nations with deeper pockets, and the hoovering up of top-class stallion prospects by our friends in Japan. Well, guess what. None of this is new.

'No Racing and no Money as 1968 comes in' ran the cheery headline on the editorial leader in the February 1968 edition of Stud And Stable. Britain was then in the grip of a foot-and-mouth epidemic which had halted racing during the previous December (the same disease later caused the cancellation of the Cheltenham Festival of 2001). Remarkably, the December Sales of 1967 had been permitted to go ahead by the government under strict protocols and they recorded some notable returns despite some epidemic-enforced withdrawals. Sound familiar?

Vaguely Noble sold for a record 136,000 guineas, and he was far from the only high-priced lot to fall into the hands of owners from overseas.

The gloomy leader stated, “Already supported by racing programmes that justified the payment of high prices, French and American buyers were afforded a field day.”

It continued, “Throughout the century, England and Ireland have acted as a storehouse from which to supply the world's Thoroughbred requirements. This year's December Sales raised more dramatically than ever the question of how long we shall be able to go on doing so unless we can increase our prizes and keep the best at home.”

These words, written 56 years ago, could so easily have been penned today.

Elsewhere in the same magazine there was a short report on the sale of the stallions Larkspur and Hard Ridden to Japan, which began, “Following on from the rather alarming foreign purchases of the top lots at the Newmarket December Sales comes news of the export to Japan of two Derby winners.” Again, this has a familiar ring of recency to it (as did an advertisement in the same edition for Rathduff Stud's promising young stallion by the name of Cracksman).

In fact, the only thing that felt a little different in this edition of Stud And Stable from 1968 was a photograph of the packed stands at the Curragh in an advert for the Irish Sweeps Derby which boasted of the higher average prices of yearlings with Irish Derby entries. Just don't tell Patrick Cooper or he might write another letter.

Over the years we have had epidemics of the human and bovine variety temporarily halt racing in its tracks. It would have felt catastrophic at the time, and the worry of the months of April and May 2020 in particular is still fresh in the mind.

Somehow, though, this industry bounces back, often stronger than ever.

Racing limped on, restricted and reduced, through the far graver years of the Second World War. The Derby and the Oaks were run at Newmarket, but at least they took place. It must be said that the influential owner-breeders of the day played a major role in persuading the government that a certain amount of racing must continue for the morale of the people, not to mention the important continuation and testing of the breed on the racecourse.

And yet even in those desperate times we find in the Bloodstock Breeders' Review similar buoyancy at the sales, which is quite staggering considering what was taking place in the real world. A report written in the sixth year of war concluded, “Bloodstock Sales in 1944 showed the highest aggregate ever known…The December Sales results alone beat all hitherto established records…The same story is to be recorded regarding the Dublin Sales. All records were surpassed by the results in 1944.”

I've lost track of the times I've reported on a “record-breaking” sale over the last decade. Of course the vitality of the bloodstock market should not be confused with the overall health of racing. As stated, an increased number of people treat the sales like the stock market and are not involved beyond that, while plenty of money that changes hand comes from foreign investors.

That's not all bad though. We have always needed international interest in our bloodstock market, and the breed itself needs it. Many of those investors hail from countries which are not conducive to the breeding and rearing of horses, and the fact that the green and pleasant lands of Britain and Ireland are ideally suited to that pursuit has not gone unnoticed by those from overseas who have decided to establish their own breeding operations in this part of the world.

And yes, to a degree, it is facetious to imply that little has changed. Glancing through those old books and magazines, the most telling difference is that there were once so many small, independent studs that each stood a stallion or two. Now, many have been subsumed by those major investors whose breeding operations have become empires. Whether that is good or bad is almost a moot point. It's different, but we still have the choice of a large range of stallions, with many of the best in the world standing in these isles.

None of this means that we can simply think all is well and turn to complacency. Those quickly expanding racing programmes in the Middle East will need more and more horses to meet their demands, at a rate and standard which exceeds the potential of their local breeding industries. In part that is good news for European breeders, but it may well prove detrimental to racing here.

A personal gripe is how much owners appear to be encouraged to sell on a horse as soon as it shows a glimmer of talent. Obviously lucrative offers are hard to turn down, and horses can suddenly be lame in the blink of an eye, so this isn't pointing the finger of blame at anyone who has cashed in. But what happened to that dream? Isn't it what drew people in in the first place, the chance to race a top horse?

There really is nothing like the thrill of being connected to a winner, whether in a syndicate or as a sole owner-breeder. That's the dream we should be selling, for no get-rich-quick scheme can equal that high.

The politics of racing can certainly detract from our enjoyment of the sport if we let it. So it's time to stop doom-scrolling. Put down your phone and get yourself out to a paddock or a racecourse to marvel at the beauty of the Thoroughbred. The start of the Flat turf season is now but two months away and the foaling barns are once again filling up with the stars of the future.

If we get it right now and treat these wonderful creatures with the respect they deserve throughout their lives, then there is hope that in another 80 years the bloodstock journalists of the future will be writing about yet more sales records and why the Irish Derby should remain at a mile and a half.

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Newbury Prize-Money Upped to Record £7m

Following last week's announcement of record prize-money across the Jockey Club's portfolio of racecourses, Newbury has followed suit by increasing its prize-money for 2024 to £7 million, which is also a record figure. The 13% increase in purses will be spread across 31 fixtures, 11 of which are denoted as 'premier' meetings and the the other 20 as 'core' fixtures.

The G1 Al Shaqab Lockinge S. will this year be run for £400,000, up from £350,000, and again on a card which is one of the World Pool meetings in Britain. Also receiving as boost is the G3 Geoffrey Freer S., which is now worth £90,000, and the G2 Hungerford S., to £125,000, while the G3 Dubai International World Trophy and G2 Mill Reef S. receive prize-money boosts of £15,000 and £10,000 respectively, to £85,000 and £100,000. Furthermore, all Class 5 handicaps in Flat core fixtures are guaranteed to be run for a minimum of £11,000, up from £8,650 in 2023.

“We have been able to make two successive years of significant advances in our prize-money mainly due to our new media arrangements with Sky Sports Racing and our board are pleased to be able to do so at a time when the industry really needs such an investment,” said Julian Thick, chief executive of Newbury Racecourse.

“It is well known there are significant headwinds facing racecourses and further prize-money increases in years to come will be very much dependant on Newbury being able to navigate these and create increased commercial returns through other trading activities such as growing attendances, that can then be shared with our industry partners. Once again, my thanks must go to all our sponsors for their continued support and we very much look forward to the season ahead and welcoming horses, connections and racegoers back to Newbury to enjoy top-class racing action.”

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