What are the World’s Richest Horse Races?
It’s no secret that horse racing is a sport with a lot of money behind it. The owner of the winning horse will always be rewarded financially and the figures can vary from a couple of grand to a couple of million, either way, the winner of a race gets a nice prize from it, but how big can that prize get?
Well we’ve compiled a list of the top 10 most rewarding horse races in the world at the moment and the prize along with them.
1) Saudi Cup $30.5m
The Saudi Cup, the biggest prize in horse racing. A staggering $30,500,000 is on offer in this race which is over $10,000,000 more than the race in second place. The Saudi Cup first started in 2020 where Maximum Security won as the 5/2 favourite but the huge prize was delayed due to some controversy surrounding the horse.
Betting sites for horse racing will always offer odds on these huge races and whilst the runners are not yet known for the 2024 Saudi Cup, expect the biggest names to come in with the prize fund consistently growing every year.
2) The Everest $20m
The Everest takes place in Sydney, Australia and comes in as the second most rewarding race in the world. The Aussie turf race is a thoroughbred flat race that offers a whopping $20,000,000 out in prize money.
This is another still in its relatively early days and we’ve only had six editions of this race, the first being in 2017, this race will be held yet again this year and is on the 14th October.
3) Dubai World Cup $12m
The Dubai World Cup is one of the longer standing races with a huge prize pool with the first Dubai World Cup taking place in 1996 and has been running annually since. The prize pool on offer is $12m and it comes in third place on our most rewarding list.
4) The Golden Eagle $10m
Back back down to Australia we’ve got The Golden Eagle which has been going since 2019. You’ve got $10,000,000 on offer for this one with the starting prize pool being 2019 for the inaugural race.
It seems as though Australia don’t mess around with their prize pools and with this race still being in its early stages and with the growth over four years being $2.5m, this very well could rank higher in future lists.
5) Breeders’ Cup Classic $6m
The first American race of this list and we’ve got the Breeders’ Cup Classic which boasts a very solid $6,000,000 to play for. The first of this race was in 1984 and is renowned as the best thoroughbred horse race of the year in the States.
This was once the richest horse race in the world but as time has gone on other races have gotten incredibly serious about their prizes.
6) Arima Kinen ¥864,000,000
Now we’re off to Japan where the Arima Kinen which has ¥ 864,000,000 on offer, to translate that into a more familiar figure, it’s about $6m which is basically the same as the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
The Japanese are a nation passionate about horse racing and offer some of the best thoroughbreds in the game. This is the oldest race so far on this list as this race started in 1956.
7) Japan Cup $5.9m
Sticking to Japan we have the Japan Cup and despite it sounding like the most official race of Japan, it falls just $100,000 short of the Arima Kinen, however, it’s probably the most popular race with the public and takes place in Tokyo.
8) Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe $5m
And now we’re finally over to Europe, more specifically France where we’ve got the legendary Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe which has been going since 1920. This is the biggest prize pool in Europe with the equivalent of $5,000,000 on offer.
This is a sporting event that is watched all around the world and has seen legendary horses like Enable claim the highly prestigious trophy.
9) Melbourne Cup $4,400,000
The Melbourne Cup is another Australian race with a huge prize pool and here we have the richest two-mile handicap in the world with $4,400,000 on offer. Just to put into perspective how big this race is, this race is labeled as “the race that stops the nation.”
10) Pegasus World Cup $4m
And finally at number 10 we’ve got the Pegasus World Cup which takes place at Gulfstream Park in Florida. There’s a whopping $4,000,000 on offer for this race that is actually named after Pegasus, a mythical horse in Greek history, they also have a 110-foot statue of this horse at the race course!
This race has only been around since 2017 and the future is definitely on the up for horse racing in the states.