JRA increases prize money for 14 Grade 1 races in 2018 season

The Japan Racing Association (JRA) announced the 2018 Graded race schedule, as well as the fixtures for the races in the upcoming season, and the prize money for 14 Grade 1 races were increased (refer to below charts). With these increases, all JRA Grade 1 races, with the exception of those for 2-year-olds, will have a first-place prize money of over 100,000,000 yen (about US$909,000).

Among the 14 Grade 1 races with the prize money increase, six of them are designated as races with travel subsidies available to overseas runners. In particular, the two sprint Grade 1 races – Takamatsunomiya Kinen and Sprinters Stakes – and the Queen Elizabeth II Cup will have the largest prize money increase for the winner, with the two sprint races upping to 110,000,000 yen (about US$1,000,000) and the QEII Cup increasing to 105,000,000 yen (about US$96,000).

* 2018 List of JRA Graded Races

* 2018 List of other races which foreign horses can run