Emma Berry photo

The payout structure of prizemoney in Britain will be altered from Saturday, with placed horses in non-pattern races to receive a larger share.

Second place horses will receive roughly half of the prizemoney allocated to the winner, with the third and fourth-placed horses getting half of the sum gained by the next best finisher. An additional £7.5-million will be provided to placed owners in non-pattern races.

Charlie Liverton, chief executive of the Racehorse Owners Association, said, “Prizemoney is a huge, long-term challenge for owners and racing and these changes are being made following feedback and consultation with owners. With the impact of COVID on racing, the ROA are working hard with industry colleagues to retain and attract owners and improving prize-money distribution is a key part of that.

“Prizemoney distribution has always been a frustration for owners, whether it was the complexity of the system or the levels generally. The changes deliver what owners want: simplicity and fairness. Put simply, more owners can access a larger share of the prizemoney now. This improves earnings across the sport and enhances funding to the middle and lower tiers.

“We want to encourage people to stay in our sport and bring new participants in. To do that, the sport has to be an attractive proposition. Owners spend over £30-million a month in training fees and collectively the industry needs to grow our income stream and ensure that owners receive a fair return through prizemoney.” (by : TDN)