Festival Prizemoney

[mayo]

How prize-money compares to last year

Tuesday, March 14, 2017 - Champion Day - Old Course
Sky Bet Supreme Novices' Hurdle (G1) £125,000 (from £120,000 in 2016)
Racing Post Arkle Novices' Chase (G1) £175,000 (£150,000)
Ultima Handicap Chase (G3) £105,000 (£100,000)
Stan James Champion Hurdle (G1) £400,000 (£400,000)
OLBG Mares' Hurdle (G1) £110,000 (£100,000)
J T McNamara National Hunt Novices' Chase (G2) £120,000 (£100,000)
Close Brothers Novices' Handicap Chase (Listed) £70,000 (£65,000)

Wednesday, March 15, 2017 - Ladies Day - Old Course
Neptune Investment Management Novices' Hurdle (G1) £125,000 (£120,000)
RSA Novices' Chase (G1) £175,000 (£150,000)
Coral Cup Handicap Hurdle Race (G3) £95,000 (£90,000)
Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase (G1) £350,000 (£350,000)
Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase £65,000 (£60,000)
Fred Winter Juvenile Handicap Hurdle (G3) £80,000 (£75,000)
Weatherbys Champion Bumper (National Hunt Flat Race) £75,000 (£70,000)

Thursday, March 16, 2017 - St Patrick's Thursday - New Course
JLT Novices' Chase (G1) £150,000 (£130,000)
Pertemps Network Final Handicap Hurdle (Listed) £95,000 (£90,000)
Ryanair Chase (G1) £300,000 (£300,000)
Sun Bets Stayers' Hurdle (G1) £300,000 (£300,000)
Brown Advisory & Merriebelle Stable Plate Handicap Chase £105,000 (£100,000)
Trull House Stud Mares' Novices' Hurdle (G2) £80,000 (£75,000)
Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Handicap Chase (amateurs) £70,000 (£65,000)

Friday, March 17, 2017 - Gold Cup Day - New Course
JCB Triumph Hurdle (G1) £125,000 (£120,000)
Randox Health County Handicap Hurdle (G3) £95,000 (£90,000)
Albert Bartlett Novices' Hurdle (G1) £125,000 (£120,000)
Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup Chase (G1) £575,000 (£575,000)
St James's Place Foxhunter Chase £45,000 (£40,000)
Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys' Handicap Hurdle (0-145) £65,000 (£60,000)
Johnny Henderson Grand Annual Handicap Chase (G3) £105,000 (£100,000)

[Kevloaf]

Good news for Altior

Should up the Champion Chase... might attract some on the Ryanair runners.

[Istabraq]

This actually upsets me, every Saturday in the Summer there's a class 2 handicap with bigger pots than half of these....

[Old Vic]

This actually upsets me, every Saturday in the Summer there's a class 2 handicap with bigger pots than half of these....

agreed - the handicap prize money is poor but owners want the prestige of a Cheltenham winner.

[jono]

owners want the prestige of a Cheltenham winner.

That's my take on why it'll never be as much as it should be. The Cheltenham festival is the be all and end all for all bar a few trainers/jockeys/owners and the dream is to ride/train/own a Cheltenham winner. The money doesn't have to be as high as the national hunt game is built around the festival and the prestige of a winner is so high they know the field sizes will be there.

Compare it to say Royal Ascot where by the prize money is significantly larger in that they need the higher prize money to primarily lure the international runners to come over.

I don't agree that there are grade 2's etc that have higher prizes - just look at the £100k offered in the veterans chase at Sandown this Saturday. Ideally the festival should be the pinnacle for prestige, achievement and prize money but without offering large sums of money during the season the appeal to run wouldn't always be so high.

[Kevloaf]

On the flip side, without good prize money to go at through the season, it'd be 51 weeks of low class action and race course gallops?