The best staying chasers racing today will have the chance to net their connections £1 million over-and-above Grade 1 prize money after Jockey Club Racecourses today announced the return for the 2016/17 Jumps season of the bonus associated with winning The Jockey Club Chase Triple Crown.
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, is offering the bonus to the connections of any horse that wins its Chase Triple Crown, consisting of three elite Grade 1 races: 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.
Jockey Club Racecourses offered the bonus initially as a one-off 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 inception of the Betfair Chase in 2005. Cue Card’s tilt at that challenge helped to set the Jumps season alight, winning the first two contests before falling three fences from home when disputing the lead in a Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup won by Don Cossack.
It was decided to repeat the initiative for the 2016/17 Jumps season following consultation with a range of horsemen, the extra interest in Jump racing the bonus generated and a practical option to insure the bonus being available.
Should a horse achieve the remarkable feat, the bonus would be awarded to connections as follows: 65% 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 riding).
Paul Fisher, Group Managing Director of Jockey Club Racecourses said: “We’d love a special horse to capture the public’s imagination and take their place in racing folklore by winning The Jockey Club Chase Triple Crown. It was fantastic to hear people label last season’s bonus contender, Cue Card, as ‘the People’s Horse’ and we look forward to the challenge of going one better being considered for the finest staying chasers racing today. It would be tremendous for our sport. The finest staying chasers racing today will have the chance to net their connections £1 million over-and-above Grade 1 prize money after Jockey Club Racecourses today announced the return for the 2016/17 Jumps season of the bonus associated with winning The Jockey Club Chase Triple Crown.”
At Newmarket on Saturday Alice Springs makes most appeal in the Sun Chariot Stakes run over mile.
Yours In Sport!
The Colonel
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