Ascot has unveiled plans for a new unsaddling enclosure and an increase in prize money for the Royal meeting. Pic: Courtesy of Ascot.

By Simon Jackson.

Royal Ascot prize money has been boosted by £1million to a record total of £6,580,000 for this year’s meeting which takes place from Tuesday June 14 to Saturday June 18.

The increases are headlined by the Prince of Wales’s Stakes which now carries a total prize fund of £750,000, an increase of £225,000 from last year’s £525,000.

Other significant escalations in funding include the Queen Anne Stakes, up to £600,000 from £375,000 and the Diamond Jubilee Stakes, now £600,000 from £525,000.

The uplift represents and 18 per cent increase on last year and accompanies news of a £700,000 investment by Ascot to construct a new unsaddling enclosure that is scheduled to be ready for the 2016 flat season.

“As part of our ongoing commitment to our race programme and facilities, we are very pleased to be able to announce what is cumulatively a £1.7million additional investment in racing activities,” Ascot chief executive, Guy Henderson, said.

“In making £1million more prize money available at Royal Ascot, over and above last year’s total prize fund, we are acting to remain as competitive as we can both at home and overseas.

“It is very important to make sure that we keep increasing the minimum threshold for race values at the Royal meeting and, equally, we need to keep developing our international showpiece events to continue to attract runners from all over the world.

“In 2015, we had 72 European runners from outside the UK and 20 runners came from outside Europe, travelling a total of around 100,000 miles each way between them.

“The new unsaddling area recognises that the old area needed improvement. This will provide a much better end to races for connections.

“The business continues to perform strongly, enabling us to make the investment in our racing which we are unveiling today.

“We are fortunate Royal Ascot is supported by a successful annual Official Partner and Supplier programme, headlined by our two invaluable official partners QIPCO and Gigaset, to whom we publicly express our thanks and gratitude.”

Read ‘Horse Talk with Simon Jackson’ at London24 for the latest horse racing news.