Chase Triple Crown Horse Racing The Jockey Club

The Jockey Club offers £1 million to win its 2017/18 ‘Chase Triple Crown’

September 21, 2017

Jockey Club Racecourses today announced it will offer a £1 million bonus for winning its Chase Triple Crown in the 2017/18 Jumps season.

The cash prize will be awarded to connections of a horse winning the three elite Grade 1 races that make up the Chase Triple Crown at its courses: the Betfair Chase at Haydock Park in November, the 32Red King George VI Chase at Kempton Park on Boxing Day and the Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup on the final day of The Festival next March.

Paid over-and-above Grade 1 prize money, it was initially introduced as an incentive for the 2015/16 Jumps season in memory of the late Kauto Star – the only horse to have won the Chase Triple Crown since the Betfair Chase was first run in 2005.

The £1 million bonus then returned for last season and, based on demand, it will now be offered for a third successive season by Jockey Club Racecourses, the UK’s leading racecourse group which stages 85% of Grade 1 Jump racing in Britain and is governed by Royal Charter to reinvest all its profits back into the sport.

Colin Tizzard’s Cue Card came agonisingly close to winning the bonus two seasons ago but, after winning the first two Grade 1 contests, fell just three fences from home when disputing the lead in a Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup eventually won by Don Cossack.

Following consultation with a range of horsemen and extra publicity for Jump racing as a result of the bonus being offered, the initiative returned for the 2016/17 Jumps season.

Cue Card was again successful in the Betfair Chase but with wins for Thistlecrack in the 32Red King George VI Chase and Sizing John in the Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup there was no bonus winner.

The seven figure sum would be split between connections, with 65% going to the winning owners, 15% to the trainer, 10% to stable staff at the winning yard and 10% to the jockey, split a third per race if different jockeys ride the horse.

Paul Fisher, Chief Executive of Jockey Club Racecourses, said: “Since we introduced the bonus in 2015/16 it has really caught the public’s imagination. Cue Card coming so close two years ago helped grow the interest levels in not only these three races but Jumps racing across the board.

“Last year was exactly the same and for trainers like Jessica Harrington to be saying they are specifically targeting the Chase Triple Crown this season is fantastic. To see a horse prove itself as the best staying chaser by winning all three of these races and the £1 million bonus would be superb for our sport.”

Fisher also stressed the bonus would again be insured, adding: “As has been the case over the past two years we have used some of our marketing budgets for the three races to insure the bonus for a modest sum for the 2017/18 season. Jockey Club Racecourses will this year contribute a record breaking £22.9 million to prize money and we continue to reinvest every penny we make in profit back into British racing.”

Chase Triple Crown Horse Racing The Jockey Club