COVID-19 puts paid to £1 million Chase Triple Crown bonus for 2020/21 Jumps season

Jockey Club Racecourses has confirmed that it will not be offering a £1 million bonus for any horse winning the Betfair Chase, Ladbrokes King George VI Chase and Magners Cheltenham Gold Cup this Jumps season as part of a programme of cost reductions due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Jockey Club Chase Triple Crown bonus was in place for the last four years, having been introduced for the 2015/16 Jumps season when ‘The People’s Champion’, Cue Card, went agonisingly close, winning the first two legs in exciting fashion only to fall three fences out in the 2016 Cheltenham Gold Cup, which was won by Don Cossack.

Despite several other elite staying chasers winning two out of three legs of The Jockey Club’s Chase Triple Crown since the inception of the Betfair Chase in 2005, Kauto Star remains the only horse to have achieved the full sweep in one season, taking the crown – and a £1 million bonus from Betfair – in the 2006/7 season.

Richard Norris, Group Racing Director for Jockey Club Racecourses, said:

“It’s a shame we’re not in a position to offer the Chase Triple Crown bonus this year, but with such a huge financial impact on our business from the pandemic and no certainty about getting reasonable levels of spectators back to the races we just couldn’t justify the investment this year. Instead we are focusing everything we can on supporting general prize money levels at our courses.

“We hope the bonus initiative added some extra zest to recent Jumps seasons and I think a lot of people remember where they were when Cue Card threatened to emulate the great Kauto Star but couldn’t quite do so. Plenty of staying chasers have tried, but it just goes to show what an exceptional chaser Kauto was. Nevertheless, the races are there to win and I look forward to what this next year has in store.”