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The Queen’s Procession at the 2019 Royal Ascot Meeting (photo of Ascot Racecourse)
Ascot Racecourse is pleased to announce that the total prize money available in 2023 will be £17 million (US$20.31 million) across 25 race days. The total figure excludes the industry-owned QIPCO British Champions Day.
This is an annual increase of £1.33 million (8.5 per cent) on the 2022 figures.
Prize money for Royal Ascot 2023 will also be a record £9.52m, up from £8.65m (10%) in 2022.
All Group 1 races will be run for a minimum of £600,000 for the first time, with increases in the King’s Stand Stakes, St James’s Palace Stakes, Gold Cup, Coronation Stakes and Commonwealth Cup (all £500,000 in 2022), while the Queen Anne Stakes will be worth £750,000 (£600,000 in 2022).
The Group 2 King Edward VII Stakes will be increased to £250,000 (£225,000 in 2022), while two Group 2 races for fillies and mares – the Duke of Cambridge Stakes and Ribblesdale Stakes – are increased to £225,000 (from £175,000 £ and £2000). ). Both the Group 3 Hampton Court Stakes and the Jersey Stakes also receive increases to £150,000 (from £100,000 and £110,000).
As in 2022, no race at Royal Ascot will be run for less than £100,000.
Outside Royal Ascot, the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup meeting will be worth £640,000, an increase of 15 per cent, with all eight races run for £80,000 plus £25,000 in stable prizes being awarded again. The same stable award bonus will also be valid on King George QIPCO Diamond Day.
Elsewhere, Ascot will host two high-value maidens with the Crocker Bulteel Maiden Stakes at the £50,000 QIPCO King George Diamond Weekend and a seven-furlong maiden in September worth £45,000.
No race on the Flat will be worth less than £15,000, with all Grade 3 handicaps running for a minimum of £20,000. Over Jumps, no race will be run for less than £10,000, including National Hunt Flat Races.
The Grade 1 Clarence House Chase and Betfair Ascot Chase will increase to £175,000 (both from £150,000), while every Saturday meeting during the jumps season will feature a handicap of at least £100,000 pounds.
Nick Smith, Director of Racing and Public Affairs at Ascot Racecourse, said:
“We are delighted to have reached the £17m mark for the first time. It has never been more important to focus on the top of the British program with competition for the best horses so intense at international level.
“Against a backdrop of reduced central funding, an increase of more than £1.1m or almost 14% in the executive contribution was required to reach this figure. This is a significant investment and while many of the main increases are at Royal Ascot, there are also increases for Grade 2 and Grade 3 Handicap driven by the welcome increase in Minimum Values in this area. We are once again focused on raising the profile of the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup, which attracts international jockey talent from around the world, and we are delighted that each of the eight races will be worth £80,000.
“We are also delighted to improve the performance of development races, including two high-value maidens on the Flat, while Saturday’s five meetings in the Over Jumps will all be at least a £100,000 handicap.”
