Record Prize Money At Cheltenham This Season

The Festival being extended to four days has pushed prize money at Cheltenham to a new record of nearly £4.7 million during the 2004/2005 season which starts on October 26 and ends on April 27.

There will still be 16 days racing at Cheltenham, with the new fourth day of The Festival , Friday, March 18, 2005, replacing the December 31 raceday.

The Festival is worth a record £2.71 million and the full programme for the four days is included with this release.

Simon Claisse, Cheltenham´s clerk of the course, commented: 'The four-day Festival, which marks a new era for jump racing, has wonderful prize money of £2.71 million which is more than we offered for the whole season in 1998/1999 and emphasises Cheltenham´s excellent record in raising prize money over the years.'

Earlier releases have highlighted the introduction of the Fred Winter Juvenile Handicap Hurdle and the naming of the Grand Annual Challenge Cup Chase in memory of Johnny Henderson, plus the new feature of the Thursday being the £200,000 Ladbrokes World Hurdle.

That day begins with the new Jewson Novices´ Handicap Chase and has the £150,000 Daily Telegraph Festival Trophy, replacing the Cathcart, as the second race. The Daily Telegraph´s sponsorship deal includes the leading rider and leading trainer awards at The Festival.

Last year´s Thursday card has largely moved to the final day, Friday, March 18, including the most valuable race of the whole meeting, the £350,000 totesport Cheltenham Gold Cup,

Another new race at The Festival is the Sporting Index Cross Country Chase on the opening day, Tuesday, March 15.

This will be the first time that a race on Cheltenham´s innovative cross-country course has been staged at The Festival. Worth £40,000 and run over three miles and seven furlongs, the Sporting Index Cross Country Chase is the culmination of over 10 years of investment in the course which was first raced on in 1995.

No cross-country racing took place last year because the dry autumn caused the going to get too fast. In order to prevent a similar situation, Cheltenham has extended its watering system to cover the cross-country course.

Claisse explained: 'To increase the efficiency of our watering system, we have extended the ring main by 350 metres, giving us greater flexibility in the timing and use of our equipment, and we have purchased 1,000 metres of tow line to enable us to water the cross-country course.'

Wally Pyrah, public relations director of Sporting Index, commented: 'Sporting Index has supported cross-country racing since it was initiated at Cheltenham. We have seen some outstanding races during that time and to back the first cross-country contest at The Festival is a natural extension of our sponsorship.

'We are very proud and pleased to be associated with a race that takes chasing back to its roots and, while The Festival is associated with the top horses and legendary gambles, Sporting Index is delighted to support an event which is very traditional in terms of the history of jump racing.'

The Pertemps Final, the £60,000 handicap hurdle run over three miles on the Thursday, has an extra qualifier this season - at Kempton Park on January 31 - meaning there are eight opportunities rather than seven to qualify. The Pertemps sponsorship has been renewed for a further three years.

Each day of the 2005 Festival will have six races, meaning a total of 24 contests compared to the 20 staged this year.

There is plenty of top-class jump racing at Cheltenham away from The Festival, with a total of 40 Pattern races being staged at Cheltenham during the 2004/2005 season.

Among the new ones are two transferred from other courses, the Dipper Novices´ Chase over two and a half miles on January 1, 2005, and the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars Classic, a two and a half mile novices´ hurdle, on January 29.

The highlight of the December Meeting has been re-named the bonusprint.com Gold Cup, with the sponsor, George Ward´s Grunwick Group, renewing its commitment to the handicap chase after first backing the event as the Tripleprint Gold Cup in 1992.

Prize money for the bonusprint.com Gold Cup, run on December 11, rises 10% to £110,000, the same value as the Paddy Power Gold Cup, the feature of the previous month´s Open Meeting.

Nigel Payne, George Ward´s sponsorship manager, said: 'George Ward is very keen to continue his support of what is now the bonusprint.com Gold Cup, We appreciate that a name change is not always the best idea but, with the company moving ahead fast in the world of digital printing, we decided that this race would be the perfect vehicle to promote the product.

'We have long been associated with Cheltenham´s December meeting, whose Saturday boasts one of the richest day´s jump racing outside the Festival.'

Cheltenham is repeating successful initiatives aimed at maximising the number of runners at the course and rewarding stable staff.

The Frequent Runner Championship, for races between October 26 and January 29, involves £25,000 of prizes, headed by a free lease for a year of a two-berth George Smith horse box painted in the winning stable´s livery.

The first six trainers home in the points table will receive generous prizes from Blue Chip Horse Feeds, a table for 10 at the Daffodil Restaurant in Cheltenham and a table for 10 on a day of their choice at The Festival.

The trainer winning the most novice chases in the same period will be given an exclusive rocking horse from Stevenson Brothers, hand crafted to their choice.

Stable staff can benefit from the £8,500 in cash awards for best-turned-out horses at Cheltenham, with stable prize money pools gaining almost £125,000 thanks to the increased prize money.

There is a great prize for the stable winning the most best-turned-out awards, while stable staff can also enter a free draw to win a weekend away in Paris for two, courtesy of George Smith Horse Boxes who are also providing complimentary refreshment vouchers at all meetings before The Festival.

Edward Gillespie, Cheltenham´s managing director, commented: 'Jump racing is enjoying a truly golden era with Best Mate equalling Arkle´s record of three totesport Gold Cup wins and Tony McCoy re-writing the record book as the most successful jockey.

'What a prospect we have this season, with Best Mate hopefully returning to attempt a fourth consecutive totesport Gold Cup win on the Friday of The Festival which now has a four-day format designed to attract the jump racing community from around the world.

'All the facilities are now in place to accommodate the participants over the four days of The Festival and the start of the season on October 26.'