• Rewards for jumps runners bigger for first time in Jockey Club history
• Decision predates the plan for Kempton to be bulldozed for housing
The Jockey Club said on Monday that prize money for jumps racing at its racecourses in 2017 will exceed that on offer for its Flat programme for the first time in its history, but insisted that the decision to put an extra £1.4m into its National Hunt prize fund predates its controversial announcement that Kempton Park, the home of the King George VI Chase, could be sold for housing.
Jockey Club Racecourses has increased its contribution to prize money every year since 2009, and the total on offer across the group’s 15 tracks in 2017 is expected to exceed £45m. Its announcement on Monday promises extra funding at all levels of the sport, but JCR’s seven smaller tracks, including the jumps-only venues at Huntingdon, Market Rasen and Exeter, will all receive at least £100,000 extra in their prize funds.
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