EFFORTS to make Warwick Racecourse one of the best small jumps venues in the country received a boost today as The Jockey Club announced a minimum of £100,000 will be added the course’s prize money pot.
From its resources in 2017, The Jockey Club plans to contribute a record £22.9 million to British Racing’s prize money.
The investment will be spread nationwide throughout all levels of the sport with an increased focus on its grassroots, meaning Carlisle, Exeter, Huntingdon, Market Rasen, Nottingham, Wincanton and Warwick will all benefit.
Each course will see their prize money budget increase by at least £100,000.
Total prize money across the 15 Jockey Club tracks is scheduled to exceed £45 million in 2017 across 341 fixtures with average prize money of more than £132,000 per fixture, an increase on last year’s average of £85,000.
Paul Fisher, group managing director of Jockey Club Racecourses, said: “All levels of British Racing will benefit from the prize money.
“The Jockey Club recognises that prize money provides an important return for racehorse owners and is vital to the livelihoods of trainers, stable staff and jockeys.
“It’s also essential to our sport’s competitiveness, so this is a real area of focus for us.
“In the last ten years, we have contributed more than £162 million to prize money, which has seen us work hard to put in industry-leading sums each year from our own resources.”
Trainer Oliver Sherwood, who has Minella On Line entered for Friday’s Budbrooke Chase meeting at Warwick, said: “This is fantastic news.
“The Jockey Club needs to be applauded on producing a prize money strategy that starts at the bottom up rather than the top down.
“It is something that will be a major boost to the smaller tracks in particular.”
