TG4 To Cover Listowel Festival The Listowel racing festival was officially launched with a reception today (Monday 30th August) by Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism John O’Donoghue T.D. The annual seven-day race festival runs from Sunday 18th to Saturday 25th September. TG4 has announced that they will provide live coverage for five days of this year’s Listowel Festival. This follows on from the overwhelmingly positive response to their coverage from Galway this year. The announcement of TG4’s coverage of the Festival was welcomed by Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism John O’ Donoghue T.D. Speaking at the reception in the Mermaids, Main Street Listowel the Minister said: “TG4 are to be commended for bringing the sporting and social mix of this festival to the wider audience it richly deserves.”TG4’s Chief Executive Pol O’ Gallchoir said: “We are delighted to provide live coverage for most of the Listowel Festival which is such a vibrant part of Irish life and a great sporting occasion. Coverage will run from 2.45pm to 6pm each day.”The opening day, sponsored by the Kerry Group, will feature a unique programme of entertainment by Hector O’ hEochagain who will give racegoers his unique insights into picking winners and will distribute free copies of Horse Racing Ireland’s Beginners’ Guide to Horse Racing.The centre-piece of the festival comes on Wednesday with the running of the Guinness Kerry National Steeplechase. This €150,000 three - mile contest provided breath-taking action last year when Michael Hourigan’s Native Performance just got up to pip River Cora at the finish, but only after front-running Cloudy Bays unshipped his jockey at the second-last. The Minister congratulated the Listowel Race Company on its achievement over the years in building up the seven- day Festival, with almost 100,000 racegoers attending. “Many great horses throughout the years have had their first outing at Listowel before going on to world-wide success, most notably in recent times, Budweiser Irish Derby winner Alamshar and Aintree Grand National winner Monty’s Pass”.Speaking at the launch, Listowel race company Chairman Michael Henigan said: “I am delighted that, as we prepare for our 146th year of racing, the efforts of those associated with Listowel throughout the years are being rewarded by national television coverage by TG4. Every race at this year’s festival is sponsored and my thanks go to all of them, particularly Guinness (Diageo) Ireland, Kerry Group plc and the Listowel Races Supporters Club.”
