Preakness Stakes 2018 prize money breakdown: Who gets paid?
By Zoe West
In the Preakness Stakes, 2018 edition, $1.5 million will get paid out over the first five finishers. So where will it go?
The Preakness Stakes does not carry the same national profile as the Kentucky Derby. That is reflected in the race’s purse a bit but there’s still a lot of money — $1.5 million total — available for the top finishers.
There’s a lot of money in the top echelon of the horse racing industry. The horses are extremely valuable, and they race for a lot of money. The Triple Crown races are the most high-profile races, and carry large purses, but not the most lucrative out there. Those (in the United States) would be the Breeders Cup Classic and the new Pegasus World Cup.
The Breeders Cup Classic was, for years, the richest race in the US. Last year the race paid out $6 million in prize money. But it was upstaged by a race in Florida earlier in the year. The Pegasus World Cup was first run in 2017, and immediately became the richest race in the world. In its first running that race had a purse of $12 million.
Now, none of the Triple Crown races quite live up to that, but a purse of $1.5 million for the Preakness is nothing to be ashamed of. For the 2018 Preakness, the prize money break down goes:
- $900,000
- $300,000
- $165,000
- $90,000
- $45,000
That represents the total purse will go to the horse (and its connections) at each position. From that the jockey and trainer of the horse get their own cuts. These are generally 10 percent for the trainer and the winning Jockey, and then 5 percent for the other jockeys in the top five. The trainers (in the top five) all get a 10 percent cut of the purse.
The Preakness limits its starters to 14, rather than the 20 that are allowed in the Kentucky Derby. This is because the track itself is narrower, so adding on the six-horse “auxiliary gate” is not really viable. So the horses in the Preakness may be competing for a slightly smaller purse, but they each have (statistically) a better chance of getting some of it.
Next: The official flower of every Triple Crown race, explained
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