Royal Ascot prize money to be halved for 2020 meeting due to 'unprecedented times'

Prize money for Royal Ascot, which will be run behind closed doors later this month without a single spectator, will be just over half what it was 12 months ago.

Last year the meeting’s 30 races were worth a total £7.33 million and during the winter Ascot announced that, for the first time, two races, the Prince of Wales’s Stakes and Diamond Jubilee, would be run for £1m each and no race less than £95,000.

However the racecourse, which is putting on an extra six races to accommodate unprecedented demand this year, announced that this year’s royal fixture, which was in the balance until the resumption of racing on Monday, would now be worth £3.68m.

That is pretty much in line with prize money across the board in racing but the meeting’s Group One races will all be worth £250,000 while no race will be worth less than £35,000.

With much of racing’s prize-money funding being directed towards the sport’s grass-roots and lower-level racing, Ascot, which has never had sponsors, said it was "heavily reliant" on its official partners, Qipco and Longines, for its prize-money schedule.

About 70 per cent of Ascot’s annual income comes from admissions and hospitality, much of it from the Royal meeting, which attracts nearly 300,000 racegoers.

Guy Henderson, Ascot’s chief executive, said: “2020 was set to be a landmark year for Royal Ascot prize money. However these unprecedented times have intervened. We have sought to respond by producing an enhanced programme to maximise opportunities to participate and which in its own way will produce an exciting and memorable meeting.”

Given the circumstances there will be very few complaints. Charlie Liverton, chief executive of the Racehorse Owners Association, said he had "nothing but praise" for Ascot. “They’ve got on with it and delivered,” he said.