Dairygold & Pegus Horse Feed back series

The Corkman carried the following report:

PEGUS horse feed, in association with Dairygold Co Operative Society Ltd, of Clonmel Road Mitchelstown Co Cork, have for the 2009/2010 season organised a series of qualifier races at various point to point venues throughout Munster, culminating in the final, on April 5, Easter Monday, at Cork Racecourse Mallow.

The qualifiers will be confined to 5/6 year old geldings, for the 2010 season. The first four finishers in each qualifier, will be eligible for entry in the final.

If the number of qualifying horses, exceeds the maximum allowed for the final, the entries will be balloted. The Pegus horse feed Point to Point final, will be a 2ml 4f INH flat race, with a prize fund of 9,500.

Qualifiers for the final will take place at the following venues, December 30 Duhallow at Dromahane Mallow, January 3 Lisgoold, January 10 Aghabullogue and Askeaton, January 17 Kilfeacle, January 24 Nenagh, January 31 Carrigtwohill. February 21 Kildorrery, February 28 Bandon, March 6 Kilworth, March 7 Doneraile at Dromahane, March 14 Cloyne and March 28 Liscarroll.

A well organised, enjoyable, and most informative press conference, took place at Cork Racecourse Mallow, on Thursday night last, where the official announcement was made, and plans unveiled for the series. The following speakers contributed, Frank Hayes Chairman Cork Waterford Point to Point Association, Michael O'Neill Manager Cork Racecourse Mallow, David Stone Pegus Horse Feed, Vincent Buckley Chairman of Board of Dairygold, and Jim Woulfe CEO of Dairygold.

David Stone thanked Dairygold for the confidence they had placed in the Pegus brand and was very happy with the progress they had made to date, and also thanked all the committees for their support. Frank Hayes in his address said that: "It was wonderful to see in these economic times, the big vote of confidence given by Pegus Horse Feed to our Point to Points, which is the breeding ground, for our future national hunt stars of the future, in addition to the huge community involvement in each individual meeting.

"Dairygold is a huge name to be associated with and a great fillip for our sport, and I thank them sincerely for their sponsorship."

Michael O'Neill spoke of the importance of Dairygold and Pegus Horse Feed as a big help to the industry and was thrilled for the racecourse to run the final and how important it was to them and looked forward to it being an outstanding success. In conclusion he reminded the attendance that their would be four Point to Point races on the day, it looked like being a very good days racing and was gathering great momentum, and asked everybody to get right behind it, to make it a resounding success. Vincent Buckley of Dairygold was delighted to support the venture on behalf of the board and wished to thank Terence O'Donnell from Kildorrery and Tony Hurley from the sales dept for putting it all together.

Finally Jim Woulf provided a most interesting statistic, showing that no less than 63 horses per month come from point to points on to the racetrack and gave a commitment of three years sponsorship to the venture, which was warmly welcomed .

Amongst the trainers present were Mick Winters, Eugene O'Sullivan, Louis Archdeacon and Robert Tyner, all delighted with this excellent new innovation.