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The prize money at Royal Ascot is set to reach £10 million for the first time next year, marking a record total of £17.5 million across 2024. The overall prize money, excluding the industry-owned Qipco British Champions Day, has seen an increase from £16.8 million this year.
All Group One races at Royal Ascot will now offer a minimum of £650,000, representing a £50,000 boost for several top-level contests including the Gold Cup, Commonwealth Cup, and St James’s Palace Stakes.
This increase in prize money at Ascot comes shortly after the Racecourse Association cautioned that purses may decrease in 2024, citing affordability checks as part of a "triple whammy" of financial challenges for racecourses.
Nick Smith, director of racing and public affairs at Ascot, said: “We are pleased to be delivering these prize-money increases in 2024 against a backdrop of uncertainty and an unprecedented number of negative headwinds for the industry. The financial impact on all facets of the industry is already being acutely felt.
“It is, however, crucial for Royal Ascot to maintain its position on the global stage at a time when participants at home and abroad have so many alternative lucrative options away from Britain.
“While the main increases have been made to the royal meeting to enable us to get to £10 million for the first time, we have made increases in other areas of the programme as well.
“These include increases to fit with the new Premier fixture structure, including at the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup, where there is a particular focus on maintaining full fields.
“Importantly, no race at Ascot will be run for less than in 2023, including at our core [non-Premier] fixtures. This is in spite of a reduction in central funding to this element of the programme, which has therefore required further increases in executive contribution.”
Every race at the royal meeting, which takes place from June 18 to June 22, will have a purse of at least £110,000, with the minimum value up by £10,000.