ASCOT £13M CASH BOOST

ASCOT prize-money will break through the £13million barrier for the first time this year.

It will rise £1.2m to £13,452,000 and does not include the industryowned ryo Qipco British Champions Day.

Prize-money at Royal Ascot is also up 10 per cent to £7,305,000.

The Qipco-sponsored King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes — won last year by the subsequent Arc winner Enable under Frankie Dettori (above) — has increased by £100,000 to £1,250,000. No race at Royal Ascot will now be run for less than £90,000 and Group 1 prize-money now begins at £ £500,000, rather t than £400,000. Ascot’s director of racing Nick Smith said: “We want the Group 1 ra races to remain competitive. “We feel we have to take responsibility for British racing internationally by making sure that bit-by-bit we continue to move these things forward.”