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Cheltenham Festival News |
| Friday 6th January 2017 | |
Prize Money Boost to The Festival
The Festival at Cheltenham in March has received a significant prize money boost, leading to a new record total of £4,305,000 over the four days of the best of Jump racing.
The £190,000 input to prize money benefits 23 of the 28 races at The Festival, with the biggest increases going to the four novice chases.
The G1 Racing Post Arkle Novices' Chase and the G1 RSA Novices' Chase both are boosted by £25,000, with the total prize money of each rising to £175,000.
There are £20,000 increases for the G1 JLT Novices' Chase (to £150,000) and the J T McNamara National Hunt Novices' Chase (to £120,000), while £10,000 extra goes into the G1 OLBG Mares' Hurdle (to £110,000).
Another 18 races gain £5,000 increases, with the only contests missing out being the five most valuable - the £575,000 Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup, the £400,000 Stan James Champion Hurdle, the £350,000 Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase, the £300,000 Sun Bets Stayers' Hurdle and the £300,000 Ryanair Chase.
The lowest prize money now offered during The Festival, which takes place from Tuesday to Friday, March 14-17 inclusive, is £45,000 for the St James's Place Foxhunter Chase, with the next tier being £65,000 for two races - the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase and the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys' Handicap Hurdle.
Ian Renton, Regional Director, Cheltenham & The South West, The Jockey Club, commented today: "I am delighted to announce record prize money of over £4.3 million for The Festival which represents an increase of more than 10% since 2015.
"For 2017, the major increases have gone to the novice chases, with the Racing Post Arkle and the RSA being run at £175,000 and the JLT Novices' Chase at £150,000.
"We would like to thank all our sponsors who have assisted us in improving prize money for The Festival and look forward to four great days of racing in March."
