Prize-money remains vital to sport’s health

The low level of prize-money in Britain remain of uppermost concern to trainers even after the increases achieved in recent years. It affects the sustainability of trainers’ businesses on which racing staff and numerous ancillary businesses depend. It influences the willingness of the average owner to purchase bloodstock, a willingness that is the foundation stone of the whole industry. We forget this at our peril.

Reading the article headlined ‘Winning more important than money to trainers’ (November 30) it would be easy to get the false impression that trainers do not have a keen eye for prize-money levels when choosing a race.

Many variables go into deciding which race to target, but the truth is that the twin aims of running where a horse has a good chance of winning or being placed and also where decent prize-money is on offer are not mutually exclusive. The whole point of targeting races in which the horse is competitive is to pick up prize-money for all the connections.