Racing
Cup boost among Vic prizemoney hikes
Racing Victoria has announced prize money increases across a number of races.
The Melbourne Cup has been a major beneficiary of prize money increases announced by Racing Victoria.
Australia's greatest race will see prize money of $9.09 million on offer along with $910,000 in trophies, bringing the total to $10 million for the race on the first Tuesday in November.
All runners in this year's Cup will receive a minimum of $100,000 which will be paid for runners that finish 13th to 24th while the winner will receive $4.5 million plus trophies valued at $910,000.
The Victoria Racing Club also announced the Moonee Valley Gold Cup and the Geelong Cup will be 'Win and you're in' races, joining The Roy Higgins, The Andrew Ramsden, Belmont Gold Cup (US), Ebor Handicap (UK), the Archer Stakes, The Bart Cummings, the Caulfield Cup and the Cox Plate.
Also receiving a major prize money boost in the spring was the Cox Plate with an extra $1 million being offered, up from $5 million, with that injection going directly to the winner.
The Melbourne Racing Club was not left out despite there being no increase to this year's Caulfield Cup prize money levels.
The Underwood Stakes, the C F Orr Stakes, the Thoroughbred Club Stakes all had an injection of funds to boost their values to $1 million while the Sandown Guineas has $100,000 added and will now be run for $400,000.
The Festival of Racing in the autumn will see four races staged for $2 million – the Blue Diamond Stakes, the Newmarket Handicap, the All-Star Mile and Australian Cup.
Maiden races at country venues will also see an increase in the new season.
In total, 1400 country maiden races, representing a third of all Victorian races, will all be increased by $5000 each to support grassroots racing and accelerate the return on investment for owners.
RV also announced the creation of new ratings tiers which will see horses in the 50 to 60 ratings bands better matched to compete against other.
These new bands, which come into effect on September 1, will be trialled throughout the remainder of the 2025-26 season.
The rating bands will see 0-52 and 0-56 races for $22,000 while 0-62 and 0-66 races will be staged for $27,000.
RV also announced the 4% welfare contributions that was deducted from overall prizemoney would be reduced to 3.5% from the start of the season.
The breakdown of the contributions is 2% for equine welfare, 1% for jockey welfare and 0.5% for participant welfare.
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