Sky Bet Sunday Series: top jockey at each meeting to win £10,000

This year's £1.2million Sky Bet Sunday Series will include exciting new initiatives, including the jockey who amasses most points at each fixture scooping £10,000.

With six Sunday Series fixtures scheduled, it means The Jockey Cup will offer a total of £60,000 to riders.

“The Jockey Cup is a great idea and will firmly focus my mind, as well as my colleagues in the weighing room," jockey and Racing TV ambassador Paul Mulrennan said.

"It is a big pot and hopefully I can scoop one Jockey Cup, if not two! The Series is a great way of lifting jockeys’ profiles and connecting with the racefans and there should be some great stories to tell.”

Tom Stanley explains more about the 2023 Sky Bet Series

The Series will welcome its new charity partner, the MND Association, which will put their name to the Jockey Cup and also one race at each of the six fixtures.

Richard Parris, Corporate Development Manager at the MND Association, said: “We are grateful to be invited to be an integral part of the six fixtures of the Sky Bet Sunday Series and the new Jockey Cup.

"The Series provides us with a great opportunity to raise awareness of motor neurone disease and invite people to support us in the race to find a cure for this brutal disease.”

The £100,000 bonus on offer to the connections of the first horse to win three races across the Series will again be on offer.

Evaluation came within inches of scooping the prize for his connections last year, being beaten a nose when bidding for a third success.

Mulrennan spoke to Gordon Brown about the Sunday Series at Musselburgh on Saturday

“I’ve owned horses for 25 years, and won the Zetland Gold Cup, but had never felt excitement like that before," said Sir Ian Good, the owner of Evaluation.

"Racing is full of highs and lows, and we never expected to be in this position in the first place. And that’s the beauty of the Sunday Series, it’s given a certain grade of horses the opportunity to perform on a stage with excellent prizemoney and bonuses on offer.”

Stable staff will also have the opportunity to win cash prizes, with a total of £15,000 (£10,000; £3,000 and £2,000) to be paid out to the stable staff of the first three trainers in the Series.

In addition, Sky Bet will once again sponsor and offer £250 for the Best Turned Out in each race.

The Series, now in its third year, is an industry-wide collaboration between ITV, Racecourse Media Group - the parent company of Racing TV - Sky Betting and Gaming and the participating racecourses, which will showcase the sport in a Sunday twilight slot on terrestrial television during the summer.

The 2023 schedule for the Sky Bet Sunday Series begins later this month, with every race live on Racing TV.

The six fixtures

April 30: Musselburgh

June 11: Beverley

How Evaluation almost scooped the £100,000 bonus

Victory at York in May

Victory at Musselburgh in June

An agonising defeat at Sandown in August