CORAL has signed a deal with Punchestown that will see the bookmaker sponsor at the track’s spring festival for the first time.

The €100,000 Coral Handicap Hurdle will be run on the final day of the 2016 festival on Saturday, April 30th. Last year the two and a half mile race was won by the J.P. McManus-owned Sort It Out ridden by Mark Walsh. Coral will also sponsor all races (bar one) at Punchestown on October 12th this year.

Simon Clare of Coral said: “It is both a thrill and an honour to be associating the Coral name with a race meeting of the stature and mass appeal of the Punchestown Festival. We recently embarked on a mission to introduce the Coral brand and the benefits of our betting products and services to Irish punters and racing fans, and this commercial partnership with one of Ireland’s most dynamic and progressive racecourses is a clear signal of our intent.”

Coral obtained an Irish betting licence last year and celebrated their entry into the Irish betting market by establishing the company’s first race sponsorship in Ireland at Leopardstown in January, featuring the Coral.ie Hurdle (won by Henry Higgins) and the Coral.ie Leopardstown Chase (won by Empire Of Dirt).

Janet Creighton, sponsorship and sales manager at Punchestown, commented: “We are delighted to be among the first choices for Coral in Ireland. Festival Saturday has become one of the best attended race days on the entire Irish racing calendar so it will be a fitting introduction for Coral to the Punchestown Festival event.”

The 2016 Punchestown Festival takes place from Tuesday, April 26th to Saturday, April 30th.