PRIZE MONEY AT ASCOT RACECOURSE TO REACH £17.5 MILLION IN 2024

Royal Ascot worth a record £10 million

For immediate release, Wednesday 6th December 2023

Ascot Racecourse today announces that total prize money in 2024 will reach a record £17.5 million, an increase of 3.9% on 2023 values (£16.8 million).

This excludes the industry-owned QIPCO British Champions Day. Royal Ascot (18th-22nd June) will be worth a record £10 million with no race run for less than £110,000 (up from £100,000) and all Group 1 races worth a minimum of £650,000 (up from £600,000).

This includes increases to the King Charles III Stakes (formerly the King’s Stand Stakes), St James’s Palace Stakes, Gold Cup, Commonwealth Cup and Coronation Stakes, which were all run for £600,000 in 2023.

Nick Smith, Director of Racing and Public Affairs at Ascot Racecourse, 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.

“Whist 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.”

For more information, please contact: Nick Smith – Director of Racing and Public Affairs, Ascot Racecourse [email protected] / +44 (0) 7771 791 449

Notes to editors

All figures are planned numbers for 2024. Prize money is subject to abandonments as well as changes to race programmes and/or race conditions. The full Royal Ascot 2024 order of running and prize money details can be found here.

 Prize money history

About Ascot Racecourse Ascot Racecourse was founded in 1711 by Queen Anne, who identified the land as being ideal for horseracing when riding out from Windsor Castle. The first four day meeting at Ascot took place in 1768 and at some point in time, the race programme started being referred to as Royal Ascot. The two tracks, Flat and Jumps, now provide racing all year round and Ascot hosts 26 days of racing each year, including the five days of Royal Ascot. It is Europe’s premier Flat racing meeting, featuring eight Group 1 races and 19 Group races in total. Typically, 300,000 racegoers attend across the five days while the event is broadcast in more than 200 territories with a reach of 650 million households. As well as world-class racing, Ascot Racecourse is also used as a film and TV filming location and as a venue for conferences, banquets, exhibitions, product launches and weddings, with 300 non-racing events annually. The land on which Ascot Racecourse sits is leased from the Crown Estate, adjacent to Windsor Great Park, covering 179 acres. For more information please visit www.ascot.co.uk