Earlier this year, the BHA, in partnership with sponsors Juddmonte, Darley, Tattersalls and British Stallion Studs (EBF), confirmed the return for 2024 of more than 80 High Value Developmental Races worth over £3 million in total prize money.
The programme of races, expanded from 2023, delivers enhanced prize money for connections of horses embarking on the early stages of their racing careers, with the aim of supporting the domestic breeding industry and encouraging the purchase and racing of young talent in Britain.
Already, the 2024 slate of races has produced its fair share of quality performers. Tropical Storm, trained by Andrew Balding for Teme Valley Racing, finished second in the Tattersalls £40,000 EBF Novice Stakes at Newmarket on 5 May before going on to fill the same placing in the Group 2 Norfolk Stakes at Royal Ascot in June.
Elsewhere this season, Godolphin’s Hidden Law was a brilliant winner of the Group 3 Boodles Chester Vase Stakes in May having won the Darley ‘Confined’ Maiden Stakes at Newbury the month prior and would surely have gone on to greater things had we not lost him so tragically at Chester. For the same connections, Diamond Rain made a winning debut in the Darley British EBF Fillies’ Novice Stakes at Ascot before winning the Listed Haras De Bouquetot Fillies’ Trial Stakes at Newbury.
There was also a noteworthy success on the opening day of Royal Ascot, as Rashabar graduated from a runner-up finish in the British Stallion Studs EBF Maiden Stakes at Chester on 9 May to win the Group 2 Coventry Stakes for Brian Meehan in the famous colours of Manton Thoroughbreds.
For Mr Meehan, the decision to head to Chester en-route to the Royal meeting was a simple one, given the £40,000 on offer at the Roodee.
“Absolutely,” he said, when asked whether the enhanced prize pot had been a factor in planning for Rashabar. “It’s the only reason he went to that race.”
Rashabar won £9,556 for his efforts on that day and was clearly aided by the outing based on his showing next time, providing a memorable victory for connections in the first of the major juvenile races on the Royal Ascot programme.
For Mr Meehan, the High Value Developmental Race series is a welcome boost and has aided his business, in particular with prospective owners based overseas, by allowing him to demonstrate a clear case for owning and racing horses in Great Britain.
“There are prize money issues throughout the programme but there are also plenty of positives and by adding these races to the mix, I can sit down with an owner and say to them ‘look at this, it can work in this country’.
“The races have created a situation whereby I’m able to tell owners that, if the horse is good enough, that’s your fees near enough paid for the year before the horse steps up to the next level. That is a selling point for me.”
High Value Developmental Races are continuing throughout the summer and into the autumn, so as you look to plot out a campaign for your promising young horse, be sure to check the race programme and take advantage of the prize money on offer at courses up and down the country.
