Nearly £5m up for grabs at Glorious Goodwood as prize pot is boosted
Glorious Goodwood is set to offer a total prize fund of over £4.8m as the festival gets back to something like normal after a year when it was badly hit by the Covid pandemic.
Three Group 1 races across the Qatar Goodwood Festival – which runs from July 27 to 31 – all see their 2019 prize money totals reinstated, with the showpiece Qatar Sussex Stakes returning to its former level of £1m.
Tuesday’s Qatar Goodwood Cup, which has been won in each of the past four years by the staying superstar Stradivarius, sees its prize fund return to the pre-Covid level of £500,000, while Thursday’s feature will be the £600,000 Qatar Nassau Stakes.
Much anticipation surrounds the return of spectators to pre-pandemic capacities, with Goodwood’s flagship meeting set to be one of the first major racing festivals to welcome back significant numbers following the lifting of restrictions published in the Government’s road map.
Ticket sales for Glorious week have been described as ‘phenomenal’ since they were launched a month ago.
Goodwood began its season with fixtures last Friday and Saturday – sadly still behind closed doors but with much of the action live on TV.
Adam Waterworth, events managing director at The Goodwood Group, said: “Prize money is incredibly important for our owners whose commitment and support we value tremendously.
“They are vital to the livelihood of the sport, and we’re delighted to be able to return our feature races to the levels we ran them in 2019.
“The past 12 months have been extremely challenging for the business as a whole with severe financial hardships.
“However, despite revenues remaining challenging in 2020, and the uncertainty around crowd numbers at some of our fixtures, investment in prize money has always been a priority for Goodwood, and we accept our role in trying to ensure the higher rated horses remain in training in this country, whilst also striving to attract some of the best thoroughbreds from further afield.
“We are incredibly grateful to our official title partner, the Qatar Racing and Equestrian Club, without whose support we would not have been able to offer these levels of prize money, and our other sponsors, broadcast, and betting media partners.
“Goodwood is very much looking forward getting racing under way this season.
“We will be welcoming limited spectators to the racecourse across May and June, when admission is likely to be limited to members, although hospitality experiences will be open to all.
“Ticket sales have been phenomenal for the Qatar Goodwood Festival. It’s one of the best on sales we have known, and all being well, we anticipate hosting racegoers at prepandemic capacities come the end of July.” Tickets for the Qatar Goodwood Festival are available by visiting goodwood.com or call 01243 755055.
Last weekend’s opening two fixtures went well, though staff were disappointted they were not able to welcome back crowds. Their first chance to do that comes at the May Festival on Friday 21 and Saturday, when 4,000 members are set to be allowed into the racecourse for its first crowds since 2019.