What is the Cheltenham Festival 2023 prize money and how much for Gold Cup winner?

The Cheltenham Festival is the premier event of the jump racing season, with 28 races taking place across four days at Cheltenham Racecourse.

Each day sees one of the biggest races of the year, with the Cheltenham Gold Cup marking the climax of the Festival on the Friday afternoon. In addition to this, the Champion Hurdle and Queen Mother Champion Chase are particular highlights, with St Patrick's Thursday also having both the Ryanair Chase and Stayers' Hurdle.

Huge amounts of money are injected into the local economy during race week, with the attendance this year being capped at 68,500 due to record crowds last year. This means that the event will attract increasingly lucrative sponsorships, with revenue streams on the up.

The injection of prize money through sponsorship can elevate the importance of a race, with trainers and owners likely to prioritise certain events based on the prize money available. The rest of the prize money is decided through a complicated system which sees stakes placed by owners before the race and then redistributed based on a list of rules which is available here.

Here is a full list of the prize money up for grabs in the major races throughout the course of the Festival based on 2022 figures, courtesy of Cheltenham Betting Offers.

Cheltenham Festival prize money:

The Cheltenham Gold Cup - Grade 1 - £614,813 - £351,688 (Winner)

The Champion Hurdle - Grade 1 - £442,665 - £253,215 (Winner)

Queen Mother Champion Chase - Grade 1 - £392,120 - £226,672 (Winner)

Ryanair Chase - Grade 1- £367,613 - £211,425 (Winner)

The Stayers' Hurdle - Grade 1 - £319,703 - £182,878 (Winner)

Arkle Challenge Trophy - Grade 1 - £179,157 - £102,482 (Winner)

Brown Advisory Novices' Chase - Grade 1 - £172,148 - £98,558 (Winner)

Turners Novices' Chase - Grade 1 - £163,415 £101,564 - (Winner)

Spa Novices' Hurdle - Grade 1 - £137,545 - £78,680 - (Winner)

JCB Triumph Hurdle - Grade 1 - £132,800 - £75,965 - (Winner)