Coral thrilled to be sponsoring at the Punchestown Festival
Leading bookmaker Coral today, 9th March 2016, announced a major new commercial partnership with Punchestown Racecourse that will see Coral sponsor at the Punchestown Festival for the first time. In addition to the festival race, Coral will also be the lead feature sponsor of the open day of the 2016/2017 Punchestown season next October.
The €100,000 Coral Handicap Hurdle will be run on the final day of the 2016 Punchestown Festival on Saturday, 30th April. Last year the two and a half mile race was won by the J.P McManus owned Sort It Out ridden by Mark Walsh.
Coral will also be head of proceedings when sponsoring all bar the final race of the opening day of the 2016/2017 Punchestown season on 12th October including the Coral.ie Hurdle, a rated contest over two miles won in 2015 by the Jessica Harrington trained Modem.
“It is both a thrill and an honour to be associating the Coral name with a race meeting of the stature and mass appeal of the Punchestown Festival. We recently embarked on a mission to introduce the Coral brand and the benefits of our betting products and services to Irish punters and racing fans, and this commercial partnership with one of Ireland’s most dynamic and progressive racecourses is a clear signal of our intent,” said Simon Clare, Coral Spokesman.
Coral obtained an Irish betting licence last year and celebrated their entry into the Irish betting market by establishing the company’s first race sponsorship in Ireland at Leopardstown in January, featuring the Coral.ie Hurdle (won by Henry Higgins) and the Coral.ie Leopardstown Chase (won by Empire of Dirt).
“Our first experience of race sponsorship in Ireland was a resounding success and whetted our appetite to invest further in high quality Irish race sponsorships, as part of a wider promotional plan for Ireland. Coral has an unrivalled track record of long-standing top class race sponsorships in Britain – the Coral-Eclipse, the Coral Welsh Grand National, the Coral Scottish Grand National to name but a few – and to add Punchestown to that portfolio this year is a source of great pride for us all,” Added Clare.
Janet Creighton, Sponsorship & Sales Manager at Punchestown welcomed the Coral team “We are delighted to be among the first choices for Coral in Ireland. Festival Saturday has become one of the best attended racedays on the entire Irish racing calendar so it will be a fitting introduction for Coral to the Punchestown festival event. Kicking off the 2016/2017 season shows Coral’s commitment to the Irish racing stage and we very much look forward to continuing the partnership into the future”.
The 2016 Punchestown Festival takes place from Tuesday 26th to Saturday 30th April.
