Royal Ascot purses raised to record level

Purses at Royal Ascot, England’s most prestigious flat-race meeting, have been increased 11 percent, to a record level of approximately $7,550,000 for the five-day meeting from June 18-22, Ascot officials announced on Wednesday.

The largest increases have been dedicated to Group 1 races for 3-year-olds over a mile. The St James’s Palace Stakes and Coronation Stakes for 3-year-olds fillies will be worth approximately $528,500, an increase from 2012 levels of $377,500.

Those races will have purses equal to three other Group 1 races at Royal Ascot – the Queen Anne Stakes for older milers, the King’s Stand Stakes over five furlongs, and the Ascot Gold Cup over 2 1/2 miles.

Overall, 23 of the 30 races at Royal Ascot will have higher purses in 2013, with some rising by just $7,500.

The richest races of the meeting are the Prince of Wales’s Stakes over 1 1/4 miles for older horses and the Diamond Jubilee Stakes for sprinters, each worth approximately $755,000.

The Group 2 Windsor Forest Stakes over a mile for older horses has been renamed the Duke of Cambridge Stakes. The purse has been increased from approximately $151,000 in 2012 to $189,000 this year.