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| Cheltenham Festival 2007 |
Cheltenham Announces Festival Prize Money Up By £315,00
13/09/06
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National Hunt Chase Numbers Reduced
Prize money at the 2007 Festival will increase by £315,000 to £3,185,000 (nearly 11%) as enhanced profits are reinvested in The Festival's four-day format.
The two Grade One Novice Chases, the Irish Independent Arkle and the Royal & SunAlliance Chase, each get £30,000 boosts to reach £170,000, while £25,000 increases will lift the totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup to £425,000, the Ryanair Chase to £175,000 and the Racing Post Plate to £100,000.
The Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle, Queen Mother Champion Chase, Ladbrokes World Hurdle, Anglo Irish Bank Supreme Novices' Hurdle, JCB Triumph Hurdle and former Royal & SunAlliance Hurdle all go up by £20,000.
The remaining £60,000 is shared amongst nine races including £10,000
that puts the Weatherbys Champion Bumper on £50,000.
Announcing this financial injection into Jump Racing, Cheltenham's Managing Director Edward Gillespie said: "The sheer scale of these increases is unprecedented and could not have been achieved without generous uplifts in sponsorship and being able to plough back the benefit of extending The Festival.
"The new race average of more than £132,000 makes this the most valuable racing festival, even ahead of Royal Ascot."
Whilst record prize money looks certain to stimulate even greater interest from owners, there will be a premium on getting a run in the handicap hurdle races with safety figures being reduced from 30 to 28 and, for the National Hunt Chase, from 24 to 20 in line with the other novice chases.
After much debate, the reduction in field size will be the only change in the conditions for the National Hunt Chase, which at one time looked likely to revert to previous restrictions that excluded hurdle winners.
Explaining Cheltenham's decision to leave the four-mile race as a genuine novice chase, Edward Gillespie said: "The HRA report into the unacceptable number of fatalities at this year's Festival was unable to identify any specific causes but made a number of positive recommendations.
"We have discussed these with trainers and many other people both
in Britain and Ireland and work is being progressed to further protect
The Festival ground during fixtures from October to December. These measures
include reducing safety figures at the December and January meetings
to 16.
"A thorough analysis of the National Hunt Chase since this included hurdle winners in 2002 clearly shows that, while tragically all three horses killed this year would not have previously qualified, nor would 43% per cent of the winners and placed horses over the past five years.
"The change in the conditions has undoubtedly improved the quality
of the race, as shown by the rise in the average rating from 122 to 132,
and we feel it would be a retrograde step to return its conditions to
exclude better horses.
"Expert opinion has consistently suggested we should address safety figures and the significant reduction by four in this race to bring it into line with the other three novice chases is wholly consistent with our long-term objective of continuing to attract and reward top quality contenders across the entire Festival.
"Also reducing the numbers in handicap hurdle races should have a beneficial effect on the lead-up to The Festival as it will be more competitive than ever for horses to just get a run"
The 2007 Festival runs from Tuesday, March 13, to Friday, March 16.
