The prizemoney for the 2020 Royal Ascot meeting has been increased to £8.095 million, Ascot Racecourse announced on Tuesday. This is an increase of £765,000 on this year's prizemoney, with both the G1 Prince of Wales's S. and G1 Diamond Jubilee S. receiving purse bumps to £1 million each. In 2019, those two races were worth £750,000 and £600,000, respectively. All 30 races at the Royal meeting will be run for prizemoney of £95,000 or higher next year, an increase of 2019's figure of £90,000. Sixteen of the 30 receive purse hikes.
Ascot Racecourse will offer total prizemoney of £14.4 million in 2020, excluding the industry-owned QIPCO British Champions Day. This is an increase of £819,000, with 2020's executive contribution totalling £8.1 million, up from £7.4 million this year. The G3 Sagaro S. will be run for £80,000-equal to the G3 Commonwealth Cup Trial on Royal Ascot Trials Day–up from £60,000 for this year's edition.
“Royal Ascot plays an important role for the industry in maintaining international investment in British racing,” said Ascot Racecourse CEO Guy Henderson. “The progress we have made with our international commercial rights, our debt financing programme and our business as a whole means that we are now able to start to implement our long held aspiration to increase the prize fund for our flagship and internationally relevant Group 1 races at Royal Ascot to £1 million, beginning with the Prince of Wales's S. and the Diamond Jubilee S.
“These two races, which historically appeal to international horsemen, have been selected first as being likely to produce increased income from overseas betting and associated media/data rights. Equally, there are so many six-, and now seven-figure races staged around the world over these distances that we must be conscious of options open to our own locally trained star horses. The UK LBO media rights landscape and levy picture remains very challenging which makes it difficult to plan beyond 2020.”
Added Ascot Director of Racing and Public Affairs Nick Smith, “It is vitally important to continue to incentivise and reward connections of top-class horses trained at home, in Europe and further afield to run in Britain. A recent report commissioned by British Racing's Public Affairs Group, titled British Horseracing's International Influence, highlighted how important events like Royal Ascot are to the brand and resonance of British racing. It is a significant factor in creating demand at the sales, attracting sponsorship, investment in studs and horses in training, growing global television coverage, creating worldwide betting initiatives (like World Pool with the Hong Kong Jockey Club and UK Tote in 2019) and opening up opportunities for inward investment in our sport. Ascot is very fortunate to have such a strong annual programme, with nine Group 1 races outside QIPCO British Champions Day, and we are committed to making them as appealing as possible to horsemen from across the globe.”
For the full list of prizemoney increases for specific races, go to www.ascot.co.uk.
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