Ascot stresses commitment to jumping after big prize-money cut for Saturday card

Ascot has offered reassurance in its commitment to jumps purses after the prize fund for Saturday’s Coral Hurst Park Handicap Chase was reduced by £100,000.

The 2m1f contest, set to be shown live on ITV and won last year by Capeland, is being run for £25,000 this year compared to £125,000 in 2019, with prize-money for the entire card down by £184,200 or 53 per cent.

However, Nick Smith, Ascot’s director of racing and public affairs, said the two races were not comparable as last year’s contest had been an early-closing race, which it was not this year, and that central funding had been cut in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.