David Ashbury Underwriting renews sponsorship with rising jockey Rossa Ryan

Happenings of a type have emerged from Britain first with news that David Ashbury Underwriting is renewing their sponsorship with rising jockey Rossa Ryan for another year.

David Ashby Underwriting is a leading insurance specialist in bloodstock and High Value Sport Horse insurance with a network of contacts and leading veterinarians all over the world.

To date, Rossa has had a total of 557 wins with two Royal Ascot victories in 2023, including a 150-1 win on Valient Force in the Gr2 Norfolk Stakes for trainer Adrian Murray.

His 202 wins in 2023 include his first Group 1 victory in the Pertemps Network July Cup Stakes at Newmarket on the Julie Camacho trained Shaquille, a major career achievement so far.

David Ashby, CEO of David Ashby Underwriting stated “we’re delighted to extend our partnership with Rossa Ryan as he’s proved himself a force to be beckoned in the flat racing world.”

“Over the past year, he’s established a well-deserved reputation as the most promising jockeys, and we look forward to continuing this journey and seeing what’s in store for him next.”

In following Rossa Ryan said “I’m very happy to continue my relationship with David Ashby Underwriting and really value their support, so I look forward to the year ahead with them.”

“Ashby are part of the fabric of racing and have previously sponsored such jockeys as Ryan Moore, Andrea Atzeni, Richard Johnson, Andrew Thornton, Tom O’Brien and Josh Moore.

The company is official partner of Ascot Racecourse in UK, and announced new sponsorships with the Victoria Racing Club and The Bahrain Turf Club, reinforcing its global equine market.

Earlier Ascot Racecourse announced total prize money in 2024 will reach a record £17.5m, an increase of 3.9% on 2023, but not the QIPCO British Champions Day.

Royal Ascot will be worth a record £10m, with no race run for less than £110,000, from £100,000 and all Group 1 races a minimum of £650,000, up from £600,000.

The King Charles III Stakes, was King’s Stand Stakes, St James’s Palace Stakes, Gold Cup, Commonwealth Cup and Coronation Stakes were run for £600,000 in 2023.

Nick Smith, Director of Racing and Public Affairs at Ascot Racecourse said “the financial impact on all facets of the industry is already being acutely felt.”

“We are pleased to deliver these prize money increases in 2024 against a backdrop of uncertainty and a number of negative unforeseen headwinds for the industry.”

“Whist the main increases have been made to the Royal Meeting to enable us to get to £10 million for the first time, we have made increases in the programme.”

“These include fitting in with the new Premier fixture structure, including at the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup, where there is focusing on maintaining full fields.”

Also, this week Newbury Racecourse announced prize money increases with a record £7m prize money budget for 2024, which is a 13% like-for-like increase on 2023, a 16% increase from 2022.
Resulting from a direct increase in media income, Newbury anticipates earning from the move to Sky, an increase to a record £3.5m, a 14% increase on 2023 following a 26% rise from 2022.
This increased prize money will be offered across the 31 fixtures staged at the Berkshire racecourse in 2024, 11 of which qualify as one of the newly introduced BHA Premier fixtures.
“We have further prize money increases for the 2024, across our Premier and Core fixtures taking Newbury to a record £7m in purses,” said Julian Thick, Chief Executive of Newbury Racecourse.