Punchestown Racecourse and Guinness Ireland are delighted to announce a new and prestigious sponsorship agreement for the Punchestown Gold Cup. The sponsorship agreement means that the prize fund for the race will now be €225,000, an increase of €45,000, making it the richest race of its kind in Ireland.

The race will be called The Punchestown Guinness Gold Cup and will be run on Wednesday 27th April 2005.
This association between Guinness and Punchestown represents the synergy between two highly compatible brands. Both represent the best of Irish products both nationally and internationally. While both brands have now developed international profiles they have also remained true to the values of the Irish culture and sporting excellence.

Speaking on behalf of Guinness, Michael Whelan, Head of Sponsorship at Diageo Ireland, said “We are thrilled to be involved in this showcase of national hunt racing excellence at one of Europe’s top racecourses. Guinness has a long tradition of involvement in elite sporting events. The Guinness brand is very committed to racing and has been synonymous with great racing and great racecourses for generations. We are very excited with this new sponsorship and see this race as one of the highlights of our growing portfolio of racing sponsorships which also include The Guinness Hurdle at Galway and The Guinness Kerry National at Listowel.”

Dick O’Sullivan, Chief Executive of Punchestown said, “This race has become the highlight of the Punchestown Festival and is one of the most prestigious prizes on the national hunt circuit, with recent winners including First Gold, Florida Pearl, Imperial Call and Beef or Salmon.  Guinness have demonstrated an enormous ability to enhance events they are involved with and we look forward to them contributing significantly to the growth of Punchestown and The Irish National Hunt Festival over the next three years”.

The four-day Punchestown National Hunt festival will run from Tues 26th – Fri 29th April 2005 and represents the climax of the National Hunt Season.  The season’s champions from home and abroad compete for a total prize fund in excess of €2 million over the historic Punchestown course.

Enquiries to:
Dick O’Sullivan (C.E.O), Janet Williamson (PR Manger), Liam Holton (Marketing Director) Tel: (045) 897704, Email: info@punchestown.com