Prize money at the Cheltenham Festival in March will exceed £4M ($5.8M) "for the first time, with track owners Jockey Club Racecourses also announcing raised prize levels across their portfolio," according to SKY SPORTS. An increase in value to the Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup to £575,000 ($839,643) "had already been announced and there are also bigger purses on offer" in the National Hunt Chase £100,000 ($146,025), the JLT Novices' Chase £130,000 ($189,832) and the Weatherbys Champion Bumper £70,000 ($102,217). Nine of the 10 handicaps at the Festival "will also be more valuable." Meanwhile, Jockey Club Racecourses plans to make a record financial contribution to prize money of £20.9M ($30.5M) in '16, "before any fixture abandonments" -- an increase of £1M ($1.5M) year-on-year. The group also confirmed it "delivered on its promise to contribute a record" £19.9M ($29M) into prize money in '15, "in spite of five abandoned fixtures," within record total prize money distributed at its 15 tracks of £43.9M ($64M) across 336 fixtures at an average of more than £130,000 per card. In budgeting to increase its prize money funding in '16 to the "largest amount ever contributed by a racecourse group," it will see its prize money contribution exceed £20M ($29M) for the first time (SKY SPORTS, 1/7).
