Who are the top ten prize-money earners worldwide this century?

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Another lucrative victory for Romantic Warrior at Sha Tin on Sunday added even more prize-money to his glittering career, but which horses make the top ten list of earners across the world?

10) Ka Ying Rising

Prize-money: £12,400,472

Ka Ying Rising recorded a 17th straight success in the Group 1 Centenary Sprint Cup at Sha Tin on Sunday, usurping Gun Runner in the tenth spot in the top prize-money earners.

The David Hayes-trained sprinter is a seven-time winner at the top level and proved his prowess away from Hong Kong when landing The Everest at Randwick in October.

Ka Ying Rising has never finished out of the first two in 20 starts, winning on 18 occasions.

9) Thunder Snow

£12,671,800

This Godolphin-owned superstar was a consistent performer for Saeed bin Suroor, winning eight of his 24 runs and finishing second and third on a further 11 occasions.

Thunder Snow: a dual Dubai World Cup winnerCredit: Edward Whitaker

A debut in a Leicester maiden in May 2016 could not have told you what success was to come, but he ended his juvenile campaign with Group 1 success in the Criterium International at Saint-Cloud.

He struck at the top level at three, winning the Prix Jean Prat at Chantilly, before valuable success at Meydan in 2018. Victory in a Group 2 culminated in Dubai World Cup glory, a race in itself earned him £4.4 million. He then created history a year later by becoming the only horse to defend his crown in the race, before he retired later that year.

8) Almond Eye

£13,100,836

A winner in ten of her 13 starts, the Sakae Kunieda-trained mare quickly labelled herself as top class when landing the Japanese Fillies' Triple Crown in 2018.

After a winning debut at Kyoto, she won the Oka Sho (Japanese 1,000 Guineas) and the Yushun Himba (Japanese Oaks), and then landed the Shuka Sho before extending her unbeaten record in the Japan Cup.

The 2019 season started the same way, as she won a Group 1 on Dubai World Cup night, and four more top-level races were banked, the Tenno Sho (2), Victoria Mile and a second Japan Cup in 2020.

7) Arrogate

£13,622,542

Arrogate won three of his first four starts for Bob Baffert, but a devastating victory by 13½ lengths in the Grade 1 Travers Stakes set the tone for his success over the next few years.

Victory in the Breeders' Cup Classic, worth just under £2.25 million, followed later in 2016, before his four-year-old campaign began with a Pegasus World Cup triumph. 

Arrogate: Breeders' Cup Classic winner for Bob BaffertCredit: Benoit Photo

He managed only one more victory, but that came in the 2017 Dubai World Cup when beating Gun Runner to provide owners Juddmonte with more big-race success.

6) Equinox

£14,088,788

There are not enough superlatives to describe this superstar, who was the world's highest-rated horse in 2023 and voted Japanese Horse of the Year in 2022 and 2023.

A winner in eight of his ten starts – he was second in his other two races – he went from strength to strength throughout his career. After narrow defeat in two Grade 1s in 2022, he ended that year by winning the Tenno Sho and Arima Kinen.

The 2023 season started with a bang when winning the Dubai Sheema Classic, and two more wins at the top level followed before Japan Cup victory on his final appearance.

5) Winx

£14,564,743

The Australian champion. In a career that lasted five years, Chris Waller's super mare won 37 of her 43 appearances and took her nation by storm with how successful she was.

Winx: a star in Australian racingCredit: Vince Caligiuri

After going close at the top level several times, she eventually got her day in the sun when winning the Queensland Oaks at Doomben in May 2015. That was her second successive win, having previously won a Group 3, and she never looked back.

A remarkable 33-race winning streak took over from there until her final Group 1 in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Randwick in April 2019, the last of her 25 victories at the highest level.

4) Ushba Tesoro 

£14,900,191

Ushba Tesoro won seven of his 19 races and made it count when it mattered most. Two valuable handicap contests at Fukushima and Hanshin were backed up by a win in the Grade 1 Tokyo Daishoten.

He put his name firmly on the map when winning the Dubai World Cup in 2023, a year that ended with a successful defence of the Tokyo Daishoten.

That was his final victory, but he scooped nearly £3 million in prize-money when finishing a head second in the Saudi Cup in 2024, and his most recent outing came when sixth in last year's Dubai World Cup.

3) Forever Young 

£15,561,813

Yoshito Yahagi's five-year-old is putting himself into calculations as one of the best Japanese horses, having won the Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar in November.

Forever Young: the Japanese superstar after winning at last year's Breeders' CupCredit: Edward Whitaker

Forever Young has now won nine of his 12 starts. Saudi Derby success was followed by the UAE Derby victory in 2024, and he was beaten a short head when third in the Kentucky Derby later that year.

The 2025 season was a year to remember for connections as they enjoyed a neck defeat of Romantic Warrior in the Saudi Cup, while he also won a Grade 2 at Funabashi.

2) Golden Sixty 

£16,316,172

Golden Sixty only featured at Sha Tin, but he won 26 of his 31 races and built a solid reputation in Hong Kong.

In 2020, he had Group 3 and Group 2 success before winning the Hong Kong Mile on his first crack at the top level. The Stewards' Cup and Hong Kong Gold Cup were also quickly bagged, and then he added the FWD Champions Mile.

He won a further six Group 1s, beating Romantic Warrior on a couple occasions, and he was named Hong Kong Horse of the Year in three consecutive seasons between 2020-2023.

1) Romantic Warrior 

£25,038,939

In prize-money won, Danny Shum's superstar is out on his own, especially after adding just under £700,000 to his total with victory in the Group 1 Stewards' Cup at Sha Tin on Sunday.

The eight-year-old is set to go for a crack at the Hong Kong Triple Crown after registering a 21st victory in 28 outings, the first of which came at Happy Valley in October 2021.

He would have had an even bigger advantage at the top of the standings, but he was a neck second in the Saudi Cup and a nose second in the Dubai World Cup last year. He has, however, won 12 Group 1s, and more are not ruled out.

Read these next . . .

History made at Sha Tin as Ka Ying Rising equals 21-year record with 17th successive victory | Romantic Warrior lands first leg of Triple Crown 

'I think he's still improving' - Francis Graffard eyeing new heights after Calandagan tops Longines World Racing Awards 

James McDonald named the Longines World's Best Jockey for third time after stunning year 

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