Rugby World Cup winner Mike Tindall, former Premier League boss Harry Redknapp and Olympic Gold medallist Sam Quek – each racehorse owners – have teamed up with a host of stars from the world of horseracing in a video paying tribute to Kauto Star.
 
The short film is released today to unveil a specially-commissioned trophy in honour of the only horse ever to win The Jockey Club’s Chase Triple Crown and also features a starring role from Kauto’s trainer Paul Nicholls.
 
The unique three-sided trophy, made by renowned manufacturers Thomas Lyte, will be awarded to the connections of any horse winning the Betfair Chase, 32 Red King George VI Chase and Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup this season, along with a £1 million bonus which is being offered again for matching Kauto Star’s 2007 feat.
 


Tindall, Redknapp and Quek were offered roles in the video due to their close links with racing. Rugby ace Tindall’s Monbeg Dude finished third in the 2015 Grand National and won the Welsh National before being retired, while Redknapp’s This Is It won at Exeter Racecourse on 188Bet Haldon Gold Cup Day last week. The former Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United manager delivers the cheeky line “That’s a lot of money” upon being told how much the bonus is worth, before closing the film with: “Are you ready for the ride?” Team GB hockey star Quek is an ambassador for Jockey Club Racecourses North West and is an owner too.
 
Racing luminaries including Nicholls, ITV Racing host Ed Chamberlin, this year’s Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup-winning trainer Jessie Harrington, Cue Card’s assistant trainer Joe Tizzard and jockey Paddy Brennan, who narrowly missed out on winning the Chase Triple Crown when the same horse fell at The Festival in 2016, also feature.
 
Racecourse bookmaker Simon James and Georgie Webb, who works at top trainer Jonjo O’Neill’s yard, complete the line-up.
 
The first leg of the Chase Triple Crown begins on Saturday 25th November at Haydock Park with the Betfair Chase and is then followed by the 32Red King George VI Chase on Boxing Day and then the Timico Cheltenham Gold Cup next March.
 
The new Kauto Star Trophy, which will be on display in the parade ring at Haydock Park on Betfair Chase Day for racegoers to see, is offered in addition to the £1million bonus for winning all three Grade 1 races.
 
Paid over-and-above Grade 1 prize money, the seven figure sum would be shared among connections, with 65% going to the winning owners, 15% to the trainer, 10% to stable staff at the winning yard, and 10% to the jockey, split a third per race if different jockeys ride the horse.
 
The bonus was initially introduced as an incentive for the 2015/16 Jumps season in memory of the late Kauto Star – the only horse to have won the Chase Triple Crown since the Betfair Chase was first run in 2005.
 
The £1 million bonus then returned for last season and, based on demand it will now be offered for a third successive season by Jockey Club Racecourses, the UK's leading racecourse group which stages 85% of Grade 1 Jump racing in Britain and is governed by Royal Charter to reinvest all its profits back into the sport.