Ladbrokes to sponsor Morgiana Ladbrokes.com will sponsor the Morgiana Hurdle for the next three years as part of a million euro deal with Punchestown racecourse. The agreement will see the bookmaking firm take over title sponsorship of the Punchestown Winter Festival as well as extending their support of the Ladbrokes.com World Series Hurdle at the Irish National Hunt Festival. The announcement means that for the next three years a total of five races will carry the Ladbrokes.com title at the two day fixture in November including the Grade 1 Ladbrokes.com Morgiana Hurdle. The two mile event regularly attracts past, current and potential Champion Hurdle contenders, with an impressive list of previous winners that includes Hardy Eustace, Brave Inca, Harchibald, Moscow Flyer and Limestone Lad. Both the Grade 2 Craddockstown and Florida Pearl Novice Chases are also incorporated into the deal, while Ladbrokes also announced their continued commitment to the Ladbrokes.com World Series Hurdle at the Punchestown National Hunt Festival. The deal will see Ladbrokes.com continue their sponsorship until the 2014 Festival and their support of the race to a total of seven consecutive years. Irish Champion trainer Willie Mullins, who has won the race four times, most recently with the top class mare Quevega welcomed the news saying, “The continued commitment by Ladbrokes.com to Irish racing is of huge value. Both the Ladbrokes.com Morgiana and World Series Hurdles will be key races for us this season and we look forward to seeing the Ladbrokes.com Winter Festival becoming an early season highlight”. Joe Lewins, Managing Director, Ladbrokes.com Ireland commented, “This is a significant investment for Ladbrokes Ireland and a further example of our commitment to Irish sport. "We already have a strong partnership with Punchestown. They have an extremely hard working and talented team, so we’re looking forward to working with them in making the Ladbrokes.com Winter Festival a leading National Hunt meeting not to be missed”. Punchestown General Manager, Dick O’Sullivan said, “Ladbrokes.com have been great supporters of Punchestown, and we are very pleased with this latest initiative. Their investment in the Ladbrokes.com Winter festival will bring a welcome rejuvenation to the fixture. "Over the next three years we intend to build this event and aim to produce an early season highlight. We certainly have the quality of racing and now with the Ladbrokes.com support we can work together to create a real pre-Christmas showcase of jump racing”. He continued, “We would also like to take this opportunity to thank Ladbrokes.com for their continued support of the festival. It goes without saying that major title sponsors of this quality are hard to come by these days and festival Thursday will continue to thrive with their support”. The Ladbrokes.com Winter Festival will take place on Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th November 2011. Admission is just €10 or €7 for seniors and students. Ladbrokes.com Party Packs including admission, racecard, €5 Ladbrokes voucher and €5 beverage voucher are just €15pp for groups of 10 or more. The Punchestown Irish National Hunt Festival will take place from Tuesday 24th to Saturday 28th April 2012, with the Ladbrokes.com World Series Hurdle on Thursday 26th April.
