Big races, small fields

Dont even need to grab the black type decent prize money down to 6th place.  Inspiral picked up £27K for finishing last in yesterdays Sussex .

Money means nothing to the people who own the horses at this level. Time for a redistribution of prizemoney to lower levels is well overdue.

It does surprise me that so few owners and trainers have a crack at the minor prize money on offer but remember that entries are in weeks or months before the event and supplementing costs a lot of money if allowed at all. Perhaps it is the race conditions that are to blame. Soft ground also has a big affect on field size. Outfits like Coolmore have the resources to enter dozens of horses and even though Paddington began the season as a handicapper, they put him in. How many owners and trainers with limited resources would have put him in at all?

Aug 3, 2023 -- 3:24AM, sparrow wrote:

Money means nothing to the people who own the horses at this level. Time for a redistribution of prizemoney to lower levels is well overdue.

I've been saying that for years, why have the Derby as a million £ race, when all the owners are multi millionaires anyway

You could say the same about Wimbledon, the Open Golf etc. Do we want British sporting events including the Derby to be watched the world over or be relegated to the level of racing in (for instance) Germany Spain and Greece? I do think that £100k could be taken off and redistributed as too many Listed and Group 3 races are worth no more than an every day handicap. Regarding the owners, not many of them are domiciled in UK any more which is a shame.

I am thinking about the lower levels such as Class 5 and 6 which seem to have the largest amount of horses in training and help to keep thousands in employment by owners who have little chance of getting any return on their investments. Perhaps then more local people might take an interest in ownership.

Todays Nassau Stakes,£340k to the winner, all horses owned by billionaires , i don't know about Caernarfon,
But take £100k off the race, they'll still run. put£50k towards the Nottingham card and £50k to Epsom

And restricted to fillies which I find less easy to justify.

In the case of the Derby, most of that million pounds has come out of the pockets of multi millionaire owners in the first place, as they pay out entry fees at multiple points in the run up to the race.

Just as an example where the figures are currently available, the Juddmonte International later this month has already had two entry stages. First was a payment of £4,375 on June 27th, then another £5,000 on Aug 1st, with a final payment of £3,125 at the six day declaration stage. Currently there are 21 horses left in that race, so the owners have already contributed almost £200k towards the prize money. Total cost for each one still in after Aug 17th, £12,500 - or £75,000 to supplement. Which is why the vast majority of owners don't even think about running in the race as those entry fees aren't refundable if you don't run, unless you're eliminated at the final declaration stage, which won't happen with less than a maximum field.

The fact that it might turn out to be a race with a small field and you could run round for sixth place prize money is simply too big a gamble given the entry costs.

More money from Bookmakers then

Correct The Anorak. Our system survives from the old term sweepstakes when all of the prize money came from owners.