Cup prizemoney soars to $7m, Cox Plate and Caulfield Cup to $5m
Melbourne's marquee races will be worth substantially more this year - with the Melbourne Cup breaching the $7 million barrier for the first time - but racing authorities insist they are not in a contest with Sydney's lucrative Everest event.
The Melbourne Cup will carry $7.3 million prizemoney in November, up from $6.2 million in 2017.
The Cox Plate at Moonee Valley soars to $5 million prizemoney, up from $3.15 million last year.
The Caulfield Cup also receives a big lift, jumping from $3 million to $5 million.
The increases are part of a $12.4 million prizemoney boost across the industry which includes a lift for the 67 country cups.
The Everest, held for the first time in 2017 at Randwick, is worth $13 million this year.
But Racing Victoria's chief executive Giles Thompson said there was no contest.
"These prizemoney increases are not related to the Everest,'' he said. "The Everest is a particular race, and a very successful race in what it does. People buy slots and that enables over half the prizemoney to come from those slot-holders. What we've done here is we've invested right across our industry in a very different way.
''It doesn't mean it's a better way, but it's a different way. Here in Victoria, we've decided to invest in every single cup in the state this year, all 67 country cups, the three cups that sit across the three metro clubs and of course the Cox Plate as well. Now, that's a very different strategy, and it's a strategy that we're comfortable with.''
More to come