Evening Herald Sponsorship at Punchestown Punchestown racecourse is delighted to announce that Dublin's number 1 newspaper the Evening Herald will sponsor the Grade 1 Champion Novice Hurdle at next year's Irish National Hunt Festival. The E100,000 contest run over two miles will take place on the opening day of the five day festival, Tuesday 28th April. The Evening Herald Champion Novice Hurdle is one of 11 Grade 1 races run at the festival. Previous winners of this coveted contest include household names such as Moscow Flyer, Back In Front and Brave Inca. The Evening Herald has a long established connection with Punchestown having sponsored at various levels over the years. The Evening Herald provides the best and most comprehensive racing coverage with correspondent Niall Cronin and celebrity racing columnist Conor O'Dwyer providing up to date information and reports on Irish and UK racing. On announcing the sponsorship, Brighid McCaul, Evening Herald stated "We are delighted to continue our association with Punchestown and it is wonderful to sponsor a race of this calibre. We are justly famous for our racing coverage and our involvement with Punchestown Festival offers us an excellent opportunity to further enhance this." Dick O'Sullivan, manager of Punchestown Racecourse commented "The Evening Herald have been involved with the Festival for many years now. They are great supporters of Punchestown and the racing game as a whole. We are delighted that we have retained so many sponsors in these challenging times and the Evening Herald have continued this trend by sponsoring such high profile race as the Champion Novice Hurdle." Punchestown's next race meeting, The Cheletneham Trials Day takes place on Sunday 1st February 2009. The first race is at 1.05pm. Please take the time to visit the website www.punchestown.com
