The British Horseracing Board has unveiled a detailed breakdown of prize-money figures for 1998.
In January, when initial figures became available, the BHB announced that prize money last year had hit a new record at £63,658,676, an increase of 5.7% on 1997.
Work to breakdown the global figure into the individual contributions from the 59 racecourses has now been completed. These figures are available earlier than in previous years following the introduction of new computer systems.
A comparison of the prize money figures for 1998 with 1997 reveal the following highlights:

* Total prize money increased by £3,447,246 (5.7%)

* Racecourse Executive contributions increased by £727,923 (7.5%)

* The amount of sponsorship increased by £1,826,713 (16.0%)

BHB Racing Director, Paul Greeves, said: “”These detailed figures emphasise the progress made in self-help measures in the quest to improve the finances of British Racing. Self-help is a significant element in the BHB’s Financial Plan for British Racing, alongside the need for a much higher percentage of betting turnover to be returned to racing. The figures demonstrate that racecourses are clearly playing their part with a healthy increase in Executive contributions of 7.5% and a very significant increase in sponsorship of 16.0%””.