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Total prize money: $20 million

Saudi Arabia will host the world’s richest horse race in Riyadh at the King Abdulaziz Racetrack later this month, with a purse of $20 million up for grabs. The Saudi Cup, which will be run over nine furlongs on dirt on February 29, will have a maximum of 14 runners, with the winner set to land $10 million.

The Saudi Cup will take place exactly between the Pegasus World Cup and the Dubai World Cup, making them three of the most prestigious dirt races in the world.

Total prize money: $16 million (in 2018)

When it started in 2017, the Floridabased Pegasus World Cup was the richest race on the planet, offering a purse of $12 million. A year later, this rose to $16 million, before dropping down to $9 million in 2019, and just carrying a $3 million purse this time.

It derives its name from the mythical Greek horse, a statue of which stands at the venue at Florida’s Gulfstream Park.

Total prize money: $14 million

While the first two were dirt races, the Everest in Sydney’s Randwick Racecourse is the world’s richest rac e run on turf. It’s held in October, and is the featurepiece race of the Sydney Spring Carnival. It has been run since 2017, and the first two editions saw the same winner: Australian thoroughbred Redzel, who was finally trumped last year by a horse named 'Yes Yes Yes'.

Total prize money: $12.74 million

Scheduled for the last weekend of March, the Dubai World Cup marks the end of the racing season in the Middle East. Last year, the prize money on offer was $12 million, with the winner taking home an estimated $7.2 million. Held over 10 furlongs, the Dubai World Cup was launched in 1996 by Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid al-Maktoum, and since 2010, has been held at the glitzy Meydan racecourse. Credit: Dubai Racing Club // Erika Rasmussen

Total prize money: $6 million

The Breeders Cup Classic is considered to be the premier thoroughbred horse race in the US, and has been held since 1984. It takes place in late October or early November, and at different race tracks across the US. The only exception to this came in 1996, when it was held in Toronto.

The race carries a prize pot of $6 million, with the winner getting a little over half. It takes place on dirt, and before newer and richer races came up, it used to offer the highest prize money in the sport.

Total prize money: $5.6 million

Europe’s richest race, the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, is a turf race that first started in 1920, a time when the winning colt took home 150,000 francs. In contrast, last year’s winner took home $3.2 million.

‘The Arc’, as the race is called popularly, has been held at the famous Longchamp Racecourse for all but two years — in 2016 and 2017, when renovations forced it to shift to Chantilly.