Scheme does little to encourage key players to send the most expensive yearlings and jumping prospects to British yards
Punters will not notice quite a significant change to the way British racing operates from Saturday afternoon, but owners certainly will and not all of them will be entirely happy with the results. From the first race of the weekend, when the Flat season on turf is due to get under way at Doncaster, prize money will be divided up under a new formula devised by the Horsemen’s Group – which includes owners, trainers, jockeys and stable staff – which aims to spread the returns to owners more evenly from top to bottom of the racing pyramid.
The new system will see just over half of the prize fund for a race (53.3% to be precise) going to the winner, with the second (26.7%), third (13.3%) and fourth-placed runners (5.33%) receiving around 50% of money won by the horse in front of them. This replaces a split – around 64.6%, 19%, 9.6% and 4.8% – which handed a significantly higher proportion of the prize fund to the winner.
Related: Talking Horses: Sheikh Hamdan's investment in racing was incalculable
Newbury 12.30 Faivoir 1.00 Scaramanga 1.30 Ocean Cove (nb) 2.05 Supremely Lucky 2.40 Saint De Reve (nap) 3.15 Coeur Serein 3.50 Adrien Du Pont
Continue reading...