Star Quality at Punchestown as Hollywoodbets Announce Sponsorship
On Monday 17th January 2022 Punchestown racecourse will welcome leading South African sports betting operator Hollywoodbets to the sponsorship line up at the home of Irish jump racing.
The arrangement will see Punchestown partner with Hollywoodbets in a ten race sponsorship split between two fixtures on 17th January and 13th February 2022.
Since 2020, the Hollywoodbets brand has expanded its involvement in Irish horseracing with sponsor partnerships at Dundalk, Tramore and the Curragh racecourses.
In addition to the five Hollywoodbets races on Monday 13th January, Punchestown will host the Hollywoodbets Grand National Trial which will headline the race meeting on 13th February 2022.
The Irish national winner General Principle, last year’s race winner The Big Dog and the gutsy Cullentra House-trained Roaring Bull are amongst the many names to have run in this prestigious race. A future grand national winner could well emerge from what could be a true stamina battle amongst some of the top staying chasers in Ireland.
Aside from the equine stars battling it out on the track, there will also be a number of celebrity riders participating. These include the likes of BBC World Sports Star of the Year and history maker Rachael Blackmore, along with household names such as Davy Russell, Jack Kennedy, Mark Walsh and Irish champion jockey Paul Townend.
Like Ireland, Hollywoodbets is steeped in its own horseracing history. The business started as a publishing company called Winning Form, which commenced printing racecards more than three decades ago.
With roots in South Africa, Hollywoodbets has grown a proud international footprint in the UK and Ireland and sponsor a range of racecourses, trainers and jockeys, both in their homeland and in the UK and Ireland.
The leading brand races over 100 horses under the banner of the Hollywood Syndicate in South Africa and proudly recently celebrated a milestone of their 250th winner at the Hollywoodbets Greyville racecourse in Durban.
“Horseracing is close to Hollywoodbets’ heart. The Hollywoodbets family looks forward to a fantastic event in association with Punchestown Racecourse and hope to see you all there for what is sure to be a day to remembered,” said Andrew Halligan, Hollywoodbets Business and Development Manager for Ireland.
“It’s a pleasure to welcome Hollywoodbets to the Punchestown stage. We pride ourselves on treating sponsors as partners who become part of the fabric of the place. We look forward to working with the team and assisting in any way we can as they continue to develop the UK and Ireland side of their business”, Conor O’Neill Punchestown CEO.
Visit Hollywoodbets Ireland and UK for all their latest odds and promotions including the exciting Road to Cheltenham Promotion.
Punchestown, Galway, Navan, Cork, Fairyhouse, Leopardstown and Tipperary
Punchestown along with Galway, Cork and Horse Racing Ireland’s (HRI) racecourse division racecourses today announced a partnership with Rewards4Racing to offer a dedicated loyalty programme for Irish racegoers – Rewards4Racing.ie
Now in its eleventh year and with over a million members, Rewards4Racing, the award-winning rewards programme for racegoers in the UK, has proved to be a significant resource in helping its UK racecourse partners attract new racegoers as well as retaining and rewarding existing fans of the sport. In 2019, before the pandemic hit, 960,000 tickets to the races were bought by its members, making up almost one fifth of all attendances at English racetracks.
Rewards4Racing Ireland members will be able to join the programme and collect points initially with Punchestown, Cork, Fairyhouse, Galway, Leopardstown, Navan and Tipperary when they buy general admission tickets or when they engage with the racecourses through their online and on-course promotions. Several other Irish racecourses will be added in the coming months, with the ultimate ambition of having all Irish racecourses onboard with the Rewards4Racing programme. Furthermore, like the UK version of the programme, members of Rewards4Racing Ireland will be able to boost their balances by collecting points every time they shop with thousands of brands or place a bet with Rewards4Racing’s exclusive betting partners. Members can then spend those valuable points to save money on their next racecourse admission ticket or to win some amazing prizes.
In addition, Rewards4Racing’s 1.2 million UK members will also be able to use their points to go racing in Ireland and attend major festivals including the Punchestown, Galway and Dublin racing festivals.
Conor O’Neill, Punchestown CEO said: “People make Punchestown and recent times have proven that more than ever. We really look forward to engaging with even more people as we join forces with Rewards4Racing. We are all systems go for the 2022 Punchestown Festival and it is essential that we recognise and reward regular racegoers, those who book early and attract new customers to the home of Irish jump racing. This initiative is an ideal fit and we really look forward to welcoming Rewards4Racing customers to Punchestown soon.”
Paul Dermody, CEO of HRI Racecourses, said: “On behalf of HRI racecourses, I am delighted to launch this partnership with Rewards4Racing today and we look forward to many other Irish racecourses joining the rewards programme in the coming months. I have been impressed for some time with their track record in assisting UK racecourses to drive higher attendances, better engagement and rewarding loyal racegoers. I am confident we can replicate this formula at Irish racecourses and further enhance the experience of racing in Ireland.
“I love the fact that members of the Rewards4Racing programme can generate points with any one of thousands of national and international brand purchases, yet they can only redeem those points against tickets for racing. That has to be attractive to our own racegoers in Ireland and indeed the 1.2 million Rewards4Racing members in the UK, many of whom travel regularly to our marquee Irish racing festivals already.”
Michael Moloney, CEO Galway Racecourse said: “This is great news for Irish racing with Galway Racecourse delighted to be part of the initial roll out here in Ireland, with the ultimate aim of having all other Irish racecourses on-board shortly. We are hugely passionate about growing our sport, the fan experience here in Galway, driving value for our customers and rewarding them, so this initiative aligns perfectly with our own ambitions. We look forward to some cracking racing and welcoming Rewards4Racing customers to Galway in 2022.”
Rewards4Racing Director and Co-Founder, Josh Apiafi, said: “Since we launched the Rewards4Racing programme in 2011, our mission has been to reward passionate racegoers by working with, and supporting, our racecourse partners, especially when times are tough. So, in conjunction with HRI’s racecourse division, we’re thrilled to be launching the programme with a dedicated platform for Irish racing fans on Rewards4Racing.ie. Together with the teams at HRI, Galway and Punchestown, we have worked tirelessly to bring this important partnership to launch. In 2018, HRI announced a growth strategy for Irish racing and one of the elements of this was an industry-leading rewards and loyalty programme for Irish racegoers. I’m delighted that we were successful through the tender process to be the programme of choice and we can’t wait to get underway.”
NOTES TO EDITOR
About Rewards4Racing:
Rewards4Racing is British and Irish racing’s award-winning rewards programme dedicated to racing fans and those who love a great day out at the races. The programme is free to join, and members can collect points for doing the things they already do as a racing fan, whether that’s buying tickets to the races or engaging with our racecourse and racing partners on their websites or on social media. Members can also collect points every time they place a bet with Rewards4Racing’s exclusive betting partners as well as through their everyday shopping with brands they already use and love.
Points can then be used to win amazing racing experiences or make great savings on race day tickets, race day packages and hospitality at over 1,000 race meetings each year including the Cheltenham Festival, the Randox Health Grand National, the Cazoo Derby, the Welcome to Yorkshire Ebor Festival, the Cazoo St Leger Festival, the All-Weather Championships and now some of the most iconic race meetings in Ireland such as the Dublin Racing Festival, the Punchestown Festival, the Galway Races Summer Festival, Longines Irish Champions Weekend and the BoyleSports Irish Grand National.
Since its launch in 2011, Rewards4Racing’s membership has grown rapidly and now stands at over 1.2 million members.
Further information can be found at www.rewards4racing.ie
Paddy Power announced as Punchestown Champion Hurdle Sponsor
Punchestown Racecourse, the home of Irish jump racing, are today (23/02/2021) delighted to announce Paddy Power as the new sponsor of the Champion Hurdle at the Punchestown Festival as part of a three year deal.
The Paddy Power Champion Hurdle will undoubtedly be one of the highlights of the 2021 Punchestown Festival that takes place from Tuesday 27th April to Saturday 1st May. The jump season grand finale will potentially host many of the 23 Irish-trained winners from last week’s record-breaking Cheltenham Festival.
Through this new sponsorship deal of the €250,000 Paddy Power Champion Hurdle, Paddy Power further extends their unique and instantly recognisable stamp across flagship racing fixtures. In typical Paddy Power style, the bookmaker is committed to making the Punchestown experience even greater in the future.
Paddy Power, spokesman of Paddy Power bookmakers said: “We are happier than Honeysuckle and giddier than Sir Gerhard to once again sponsor at the Punchestown Festival with the Paddy Power Champion Hurdle. It gets our juices going to be part of such a competitive festival, especially now in this new golden age of Irish jumps racing. We’ll plan to make it extra special for race fans too once we’re all back at the famous Co Kildare track.”
Honeysuckle, who could bid to join household names such as Buveur D’air, Faugheen, Hurricane Fly, Brave Inca, Hardy Eustace and of course Istabraq by winning the Paddy Power Champion Hurdle, kicked off a week to remember for trainer Henry de Bromhead and jockey Rachael Blackmore at Cheltenham last Tuesday and it would certainly be a fitting chapter to close her remarkable season if she were to line up at Punchestown next month.
Despite yet to run at Punchestown, it was as the dust was settling on Day 3 of the 2018 Punchestown Festival where the Honeysuckle dream began for her current connections. Honeysuckle was purchased by owner Kenny Alexander at the Goffs Sale which took place after racing that day and now she could be in line to run at the meeting for the first time and aim for a Cheltenham-Punchestown Champion Hurdle double.
“Honeysuckle certainly appears to be going from strength to strength and was brilliant in Cheltenham so it would be great to be able to go to Punchestown for the Paddy Power Champion Hurdle all being well,” trainer Henry de Brohmead said on Tuesday.
“I spoke to Peter Molony (owner representative) over the weekend and without saying for sure, we’d certainly be leaning towards Punchestown if we get the right signals between now and then.”
Just a week on from her finest achievement to date, Honeysuckle has been earning some well deserved downtime the trainer reported.
“She seems good, really well and we’re delighted with her. We’ll just let her settle back in and just start tipping away with her again. We’ll just have to see and get a feel for her over the coming weeks and she’ll tell us how she is. Each horse is different and there’s no set routine after a race, we’ll let her tell us. She is having a well-earned rest and we’ll pick things up again when she is ready.
“We also have Aspire Tower who will be aimed at the Paddy Power Champion Hurdle. He ran a blinder at Cheltenham to be fourth. We were delighted with him. He is only five but has made the transition from juvenile to open company very well and he will be aimed at Punchestown as well.”
Rachael Blackmore has made a habit of creating history in recent seasons and did so again at Cheltenham by claiming the Ruby Walsh Leading Jockey Award with six victories and her first in the Paddy Power Punchestown Champion Hurdle on the penultimate day of the Irish jump season would be a fine way to cap the campaign.
It was at Punchestown where Blackmore was crowned champion conditional jockey in Ireland 2017 and speaking this morning she commented: “Punchestown is always a fantastic festival to ride at and hopefully Henry’s team of horses can be in similar form to Cheltenham. We all very much looking forward to races like the Paddy Power Champion Hurdle.”
Ruby Walsh, who can boast six renewals of the Punchestown Champion Hurdle to his name, is already excited by the potential stories the 2021 Punchestown Festival will create.
“When Punchestown comes around you hope for some Cheltenham Festival rematches or even new clashes,” Walsh said. “And with so many strong Irish winners in March, added to a lot of placed horses and a slightly different program, we could be treated to a real spectacle in County Kildare.
“There are no championship or novice chase middle distance Grade 1s so who knows what will go where and the potential of a flat, fast two-mile hurdle track for Honeysuckle to contend with, I am sure the speedsters will fancy another go and I can’t wait to watch it.”
Entries for the 2021 Paddy Power Champion Hurdle along with 11 additional Grade 1 races will be available from Monday 12th April.