RECORD PRIZE MONEY AT ROYAL ASCOT 2022
T
he Royal Ascot racing programme will once again feature the highest concentration of equine talent seen at any meeting across the world.
and the King Edward VII Stakes will be run as race six. These changes will provide a more balanced programme with the conclusion of Thursday and Friday more varied, where there were three consecutive handicaps in place last year.
Permanently expanded to 35 races in 2021, there are eight Group 1 races across the Royal Meeting and a total of 22 Pattern or Listed level events throughout the week.
Initial early closing entries for the Royal Meeting were strong, with representation from nine countries including Australia, America and Japan.
A record £8,652,500 of prize money will be on offer, an increase of 18% on the 2019 values which totalled £7,330,000. This will include Royal Ascot’s first £2 million day on the Tuesday, featuring three Group 1 races with The Queen Anne Stakes as the traditional curtain-raiser followed by the King’s Stand Stakes and the St James’s Palace Stakes.
Last year’s Japanese Derby winner, Shahryar, is set to lead that nation’s bid for a first Royal Ascot victory in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes and he was joined on the plane over by Grenadier Guards, who is set to run in the Platinum Jubilee Stakes. Nature Strip, the pride of Australian sprinting, is set for a much anticipated showdown with leading American sprinter, Golden Pal, in the King’s Stand Stakes. The latter spearheads the powerful Wesley Ward team.
On the Wednesday, The Prince of Wales’s Stakes will be the first Royal Ascot race to be worth £1 million and the newly-named Platinum Jubilee Stakes (formerly the Diamond Jubilee Stakes) will also have a total prize fund of £1 million on the Saturday.
Home Affairs, like Nature Strip trained by Chris Waller, and Artorius are set to represent Australia in the Platinum Jubilee Stakes.
No race at Royal Ascot will be run for less than £100,000. Prize money is racing’s equivalent of remunerating the players on the pitch and the money on offer at Royal Ascot is crucial to ensure the best horses run at the meeting, maintaining international investment in British racing.
In addition to the Ward Team, US trainer Christophe Clement is set to have his first runners at Royal Ascot, headlined by last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies’ Turf winner, Pizza Bianca, and Graham Motion returns with his top filly Spendarella.
Additionally for this year, there are some minor changes to the order of running on day three and day four.
Domestically, Stradivarius is on track to try and match Yeats’ record four wins in The Gold Cup while superstar Baaeed’s appearance in the Queen Anne Stakes will be eagerly anticipated.
On Thursday, the Group 3 Hampton Court Stakes moves from race two to race six, with the King George V Stakes moving to race two in a straight swap. While on Friday, the Group 1 Commonwealth Cup moves to race two, the Duke of Edinburgh Stakes moves to race three
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