Boost for Ayr Gold Cup Festival
The John Smith’s Ayr Gold Cup Festival is being held from the 18th to the 20th of September 2008 at the Ayr Racecourse in the United Kingdom. A massive crowd of over twenty-five thousand spectators are expected at the Ayr Racecourse for a weekend of spectacular racing, entertainment and activitie. Even though the showstopper event of the weekend is the John Smith’s Ayr Gold Cup, it is the boost in purse money that has everybody talking.
The inaugural race of the Ayr Gold Cup was held in 1804 and it started as a racing event that was run in separate heats of two miles each. Today the race is shorter, being run over 1 207 meters, or six furlongs, and is a racing event for three year old thoroughbred horses that has a field limit of twenty-eight horses. Top horses have been entered into the Ayr Gold Cup and the other racing events in the John Smith’s Ayr Gold Cup Festival have also attracted quality contenders.
Over and above the great lineup of racehorses, there is more at stake this year, with £100,000 being added to the purse money for the festival. This has given a few races an extra boost, with the Ayr Gold Cup in particular being increased by £30,000 and having a final purse of £150,000. Other races have also been given an increase, such as the Laundry Cottage Stud Firth of Cycle Stakes, which now carries a purse of £80,000, and the Doonside Cup will be run for £60,000. In total, the prize money for the John Smith’s Ayr Gold Cup Festival will now be £606,000, as opposed to last year’s £500,000.
The rise in purse money is a welcomed boost to the festival, and Richard Johnstone, Managing Director of the Ayr Racecourse, was commented on the purse increase by saying: “Last year we hit the £500,000 mark in prize money at the Gold Cup Festival for the first time so to jump over £100,000 in a year is a very significant rise.” Known as one of the most prestigious horse racing events on the racing calendar in Scotland, the John Smith’s Ayr Gold Cup Festival is set to be an exquisite event and all in attendance will be able to enjoy the wonderful facilities and thrilling racing action.