The purse of the Dubai World Cup will rise to $12 million in 2019, up from the $10 million purse the race has offered since 2010.

The purse increase was announced Wednesday on the website of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, ruler of Dubai and the most prominent force in Dubai racing.

The winner’s share of the World Cup purse is $7.2 million.

Total purse outlay for the World Cup card, the release on the website said, will increase to $35 million next year from $30 million.

Purses for the two $6 million races on the card, the Sheema Classic and the Dubai Turf, will be inchanged next year, as will the $1 million Kahayla Classic for purebred Arabians, but the other World Cup card races all will have higher purses. The Group 1 Al Quoz Sprint purse will double to $2 million and the other affected purses all rise by $500,000 – the Golden Shaheen to $2.5 million, the UAE Derby to $2.5 million, the Gold Cup to $1.5 million, and the Godolphin Mile to $1.5 million.  

The World Cup began as a $4 million race, was bumped to $6 million, and rose to $10 million when Meydan replaced Nad Al Sheba as the race’s host site in 2010. Sheikh Mohammed during the World Cup card this past March strongly suggested a purse increase was imminent. There was speculation the World Cup purse might rise as high as $20 million but the actual increase, for next year, at least, is far more modest.