£1m bonus for Triple Crown

JOCKEY Club Racecourses will again offer a £1 million bonus for any horse that can complete the Jockey Club Chase Triple Crown by winning the Betfair Chase, the Ladbrokes King George VI Chase and the Magners Cheltenham Gold Cup this season.

The brilliant Kauto Star remains the only horse to have achieved the remarkable feat during an unbeaten 2006-7 campaign, in which he also won the Old Roan Chase at Aintree, the Tingle Creek at Sandown and the AON Chase at Newbury.

As well as landing the huge bonus – with 65 per cent going to the owner or owners, 15 per cent to the trainer, ten per cent to racing staff at the winning yard and ten per cent to the jockey – connections of any horse to complete the treble this season would also claim the Kauto Star Trophy, commissioned in 2017 and thought to be the only piece of silverware in sport never to have been won.

In further recognition of his historic achievement, the Jockey Club has also commissioned an illustration celebrating the majesty of Kauto Star, along with trainer Nicholls and jockey Ruby Walsh, who retired from the sport earlier this year.

Owner Clive Smith too, is recognised in a stone carving on the plinth which Kauto Star stands upon.

Paul Fisher, chief executive of Jockey Club Racecourses, said: “We’re delighted to once again be offering this £1million bonus to horses taking part in the three most prestigious Grade One staying chases in jump racing.

“The fact that no other horse has achieved what the great Kauto Star did nearly 13 years ago shows you not only how special he was, but also how competitive this division of jump racing is.”

The Betfair Chase at Haydock is the first leg on November 23, followed by the King George on Boxing Day and the Gold Cup on March 13.