- Winners of the Cheltenham Gold Cup earns £350k – behind Epsom and Grand National races
- US racing offers the big bucks, with the Kentucky Derby winner taking home £2.4m
- Per minute, however, the Gold Cup is almost as lucrative as winning the FIFA World Cup
Despite being one of the most iconic races in the country, the prize money for the Cheltenham Gold Cup pales in comparison to some of the world’s best sporting events, and even other UK races, according to a new study.
The study from MyBettingSites.co.uk compared the prize money across a range of sporting competitions, revealing the Cheltenham Gold Cup’s winning reward isn’t quite golden, and is one of the lowest of all iconic horse racing festivals (£351,688).
The Epsom Derby offers the country’s highest purse, with the winner pocketing a whopping £909,628 – earning 2.5 times what a Cheltenham champ bags. Britain’s most watched horse race, the Grand National, also offers far above the Cheltenham Gold Cup, with the winning jockey taking home £500,000.
Compared to other major sports, the men’s football World Cup is one of the most lucrative, with the triumphant team taking home £35million (£1.3million per player). In comparison, the women’s football World Cup has continued to increase their prize money, with recent champions Spain netting £8.5m for their victory (£360,000 per player).
When breaking prize pots down per minute, the victors of a men’s football World Cup play a minimum of 630 minutes (seven games of at least 90 mins), meaning they’ll take home £55,556 per 60 seconds for the men’s tournament, while £13,492 per minute is earned by the women’s winner.
When comparing this to the 2023’s Cheltenham Gold Cup winner, Galopin des Champs (who won in 6 minutes and 45 seconds) took home £52,102 per minute racing – making the race almost as lucrative as the men’s football World Cup, considering the amount of time spent competing.
The data also looked at individual sports, disclosing that tennis and golf, specifically in the USA, is a whole dimension away from the UK, with the US Open in both sports earning the singles winners £2.4m and £2.8m respectively.
This compares to winners of the British equivalents, Wimbledon and The Open, earning themselves £2.4m each for their victory.
And the larger US purse continues within horse racing, with America’s most famous event, the Kentucky Derby, pocketing the winner £2.5million – the equivalent of winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup seven times.
It’s another kind of racing that’s considered the most lucrative sport in the world, with teams victorious in the Formula 1 Constructors’ Championship earning themselves £110m – equating to £4.8m per race for the winning team.
Selected sports competitions ranked by prize money, in GBP
| Rank | Event | Sport | Winner’s Prize Money |
| 1 | F1 World Championship | Motorsport | £110,000,000 |
| 2 | World Cup | Football | £35,000,000 |
| 3 | Men’s Euros | Football | £24,100,000 |
| 4 | Men’s Champions League | Football | £20,100,000 |
| 5 | Women’s World Cup | Football | £8,200,000 |
| 6 | Saudi Cup | Horse Racing | £7,880,000 |
| 7 | Men’s Rugby World Cup | Rugby | £4,730,000 |
| 8 | Men’s Cricket World Cup | Cricket | £3,200,000 |
| 9 | US Open (Men) | Tennis | £2,840,000 |
| 10 | The Masters | Golf | £2,555,874 |
When it comes to indoor sports in the UK, it’s darts and snooker that lead the way with their prize money, with victors of both the snooker and PDC World Championships pocketing £500,000.
However, some may argue that the prestige of winning outweighs any possible prize money, and playing for nothing happens regularly across the sporting universe. Golf’s Ryder Cup and Solheim Cup are tournaments where no prize money is on offer, but the team-based tournaments are the most coveted in men’s and women’s golf respectively.
Similarly, the Olympics has no official prize money for medal winners (directly through the IOC) – but the aim of representing one’s country and winning on the Olympic stage is still the ultimate achievement of many athletes’ careers.
A spokesperson for MyBettingSites.co.uk said: “With the Cheltenham Festival bringing in £272 million to the local economy, it’s hard to believe that the winner of The Festival’s most prestigious race only takes home £350,000 of that money. Especially with other high-stakes sports having eight-figure prize pots, it feels like the winner of one of the nation’s post important horse races deserve some more hard-earned cash for their achievements.
“However, with past winners of the tournament Rachael Blackmore, AP McCoy and Ruby Walsh all becoming household names known for their exploits in the Gold Cup, maybe the money isn’t as relevant as the pride of any jockey to win the most esteemed race in Britain.”
For more information, contact the MyBettingSites.co.uk press office on 0203 897 0333, or at [email protected].
A full version of the table is below:
| Rank | Event | Sport | Winner’s Prize Money |
| 1 | F1 World Championship | Motorsport | £110,000,000 |
| 2 | World Cup | Football | £35,000,000 |
| 3 | Men’s Euros | Football | £24,100,000 |
| 4 | Men’s Champions League | Football | £20,100,000 |
| 5 | Women’s World Cup | Football | £8,200,000 |
| 6 | Saudi Cup | Horse Racing | £7,880,000 |
| 7 | Men’s Rugby World Cup | Rugby | £4,730,000 |
| 8 | Men’s Cricket World Cup | Cricket | £3,200,000 |
| 9 | US Open (Men) | Tennis | £2,840,000 |
| 10 | The Masters | Golf | £2,555,874 |
| 11 | PGA Championship (Men) | Golf | £2,480,000 |
| 12 | Kentucky Derby | Horse Racing | £2,450,000 |
| 13= | US Open (Singles) | Tennis | £2,360,000 |
| 13= | The Open (Men) | Golf | £2,360,000 |
| 15 | Wimbledon (Singles) | Tennis | £2,350,000 |
| 16 | French Open (Singles) | Tennis | £1,960,000 |
| 17 | Women’s Euros | Football | £1,800,000 |
| 18 | Australian Open (Singles) | Tennis | £1,630,000 |
| 19 | Epsom Derby | Horse Racing | £909,628 |
| 20= | Darts World Champ | Darts | £500,000 |
| 20= | Snooker World Champ | Snooker | £500,000 |
| 20= | Grand National | Horse Racing | £500,000 |
| 21 | Tour de France (Men) | Cycling | £426,750 |
| 22 | Cheltenham Gold Cup | Horse Racing | £351,688 |
| 23 | Ascot Gold Cup | Horse Racing | £340,260 |
| 24= | Ryder Cup | Golf | £0 |
| 24= | Solheim Cup | Golf | £0 |
| 24= | Olympics | Multi-Sport | £0 |
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheltenham_Gold_Cup
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_National
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epsom_Derby
https://spectrumnews1.com/ky/louisville/news/2024/01/10/kentucky-derby-record-purse
https://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/world-cup-2022-prize-money/blt16c5249a029dcdaf
https://www.wimbledon.com/pdf/The_Championships_2023_Prize%20Money.pdf
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1413269/champions-league-prize-money/
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https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/cricket/prize-money-cricket-world-cup-2023-b2449765.html
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https://www.sportinglad.com/rugby/rugby-world-cup-prize-money/
https://www.uefa.com/insideuefa/news/0288-19990da6fca0-dd554338a025-1000–uefa-euro-2024-prize-money-distribution-system-confirmed/
https://www.sportingnews.com/uk/football/news/uefa-womens-euro-2022-prize-money/lph9t4alw7naef0pwrkpdfmh
https://www.marca.com/en/golf/2023/09/30/65180fc246163f32058b45a3.html
https://www.marca.com/en/golf/2023/09/30/65180fc246163f32058b45a3.html
https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/sport/golf/solheim-cup-prize-money/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incentives_for_Olympic_medalists_by_country
https://www.glos.ac.uk/content/university-study-reveals-value-ofcheltenham-festival-to-local-economy/
