Eventus To Sponsor Champion Four Year Old Hurdle At Punchestown

Eventus, the marquee hire company, has confirmed that it will sponsor the Grade 1 Champion Four Year Old Hurdle at the upcoming Punchestown Irish National Hunt Festival.

The €110,000 contest, run over two miles, will take place on Saturday, April 26th, the final day of both the Irish National Hunt Festival and the 2008 National Hunt season in Ireland. The Eventus Champion Four Year Old Hurdle is one of 11 Grade 1 races run at the festival. It has been won a by a British trained horse in five of the past six years and the 2008 renewal looks as though it will again have a strong overseas entry.

Eventus (formerly Western Pleasure), under the direction of John Fahy, has been a supplier marquees to Punchestown since 1986 and now erects over 100,000 square feet of marquees at Punchestown for its festival. Punchestown was the first racecourse to use Eventus´ Double Decker marquee which accommodates 1100 people on two levels over looking the last fence at the track.

On announcing the sponsorship, John Fahy stated "I am delighted to get the opportunity to sponsor a race of this calibre and give back something to the industry that has contributed so much to our success". Eventus also supplies marquees to Galway, Fairyhouse, Limerick and the Curragh racecourses where they are also race sponsors.

Dick O´Sullivan, manager of Punchestown Racecourse, delighted with the confirmation that all Grade 1´s at the Festival are now sponsored commented "Eventus (formerly Western Pleasure), has played a major role at Punchestown festivals for 20 years by supplying the majority of semi permanent structures which are all important to the success of our festival. Eventus clearly recognise that sponsorship at the Irish National Hunt Festival is a powerful platform and we are delighted that they will sponsor the Grade 1 Champion Four Year Old Hurdle."

Commenting on sales to date for the festival, Dick O´Sullivan stated "Sales of corporate hospitality have reached record figures with 30,000 corporate clients confirmed over the five days. Daily ticket sales are also very strong and demand for our fifth day has surpassed all expectations."

The Irish National Hunt Festival takes place from Tuesday, April 22nd to Saturday. April 26th. The first race takes place at 2.30pm each day. General admission is €30 and Admission and Reserved Enclosure is €40.