Curragh announce prize money boost The Curragh racecourse will stage 18 superb days of racing from the March 24th until the October 13th with record total prize money on offer of just over ?10 million. This represents a 12.2% increase on last year. At a reception in Dublin on Tuesday it was also announced that the race programme for the year 2002 will include 40 Group or Listed races of which nine will have Group 1 status, five Group 2 contests, thirteen Group 3's and a similar number of Listed events.This year Budweiser will celebrate their 17th year of sponsoring the Irish Derby which takes place on Sunday June 30th and is worth a staggering ?1.3 million.This Sunday the Irish flat season gets underway at the Curragh with progressive Dublin-based international betting exchange company Betdaq sponsoring the entire card.The highlight of the eight-race programme is the ?100,000 Betdaq Irish Lincolnshire.
