Royal Ascot Racecourse signaled its "determination to keep attracting the best horses from across the globe to its royal meeting" when announcing a £1M ($1.4M) increase in prize money for the five-day jamboree in June, according to Rob Wright of the LONDON TIMES. This year’s total fund of £6,580,000 ($9,497,670) represents an 18% rise, and Ascot Dir of Racing Nick Smith said, “We have made significant increases to the three races that are our key contests in terms of attracting foreign runners. We had 20 runners from outside Europe last year and while California Chrome's intended run ended badly [he was a late withdrawal with an abscess on his foot] we want to do as well as we can in attracting the best horses from around the world." The group One Queen Anne Stakes has had "its prize money bumped up" to £600,000 ($866,049) from £375,000 ($541,280). The Prince of Wales’s Stakes, "highlight of the second day of the fixture," is now worth £750,000 ($1.1M) from £525,000 ($757,793), while the Diamond Jubilee Stakes -- which has had winners trained in Australia, Hong Kong and the U.S. in the past 10 years -- now boasts a £600,000 fund, from £525,000. No race at the meeting "will be worth less" than £80,000 ($115,473), as opposed to £60,000 ($86,605) last summer. Royal Ascot is "not accepting direct sponsorship for its races, meaning that sponsors' names do not appear on the racecard." Instead, Ascot has "official sponsors" in Qatari company Qipco and communications firm Gigaset. Smith said, "We are able to afford this for a number of reasons. We operate differently to other courses, with a three-tiered commercial structure, but on top of that Royal Ascot was again a great success last year and the hospitality side was very positive. We've also had a boost from media rights." Ascot is "also planning a new unsaddling enclosure" for also-rans at the meeting, which will cost £700,000 ($1.01M) to build (LONDON TIMES, 1/11).
