The sport of horse racing is popular all over the globe, and it constantly accumulates more fans as new races are announced year after year. From North America to Europe and beyond, the prize purses available for winning the biggest events are absolutely remarkable.

In recent years, newly established racing events have received huge funding and raced up the standings due to the huge winnings they can offer. Let’s take a look at some of the most valuable horse races on the planet right now.

Breeders’ Cup Classic

The Breeders’ Cup Classic is the biggest race of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships. It offers a prize purse of £4.8 million making it comfortably the highest paying United States event.

Arcangelo is the favourite to claim the biggest share of the lucrative prize in this year’s event. The horse is offered at 5/2 in a bet on horse racing with Paddy Power. The likes of Forte and Geaux Rocket Ride will be the most likely to challenge the favourite according to the horse racing tips.

The Breeders’ Cup is not as prestigious as other US races such as the Kentucky Derby, with the latter being founded over 100 years earlier. However, history is not everything and in terms of monetary reward, the Breeders’ Cup is the biggest event of its kind in North America.

Epsom Derby

While the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Grand National held at Aintree are arguably more popular amongst avid horse racing fans and beyond, the Epsom Derby is the most valuable race held in the UK.

The Derby is incredibly historic and prestigious – its first running took place almost 250 years ago back in 1780. It is one of the oldest major horse racing events in the world and is held annually at the beginning of June.

Auguste Rodin won the Epsom Derby in 2023 and in doing so claimed the biggest share of the prize purse of £1.6 million. The UK’s most valuable race pays just a third of the Breeder’s Cup Classic reward.

Dubai World Cup

The Dubai World Cup has been held since 1996. It has helped to increase the popularity of horse racing in the Middle East, and many more events have been founded in the Gulf region following its success.

The main event at the Meydan Racecourse offers a total prize purse of £9.6 million. It is the biggest race outside of Europe and North America in terms of the value it pays out to the frontrunners.

There are several horse racing events in Australia that pay fees that exceed these races which are mentioned here. However, they are extremely exclusive events as they require entry fees that amount to hundreds of thousands of pounds.

These races are the most valuable in terms of potential winnings when it comes to races that the vast majority of the professional horse racing world can enter. With the ever-growing nature of the sport across the world, these prizes are sure to increase in years to come.