Irish National Hunt Festival Facts
Irish National Hunt Festival Facts
Racing Facts
The 2008 Irish National Hunt Festival at Punchestown includes eleven National Hunt Grade 1 races and is offering a whopping total prize fund of €2,535,000 – €250,000 more than the 2007 festival. All Grade 1 races are worth a minimum of €110,000.
Champion horses that’ve raced at the Irish National Hunt Festival include the likes of Moscow Flyer, Spotthedifference, Kicking King, War Of Attrition and Brave Inca.
The Punchestown Racecourse Chase track is rested for six months and the Festival Hurdle track has been rested for 12 months before the Festival. Between 300,000 and 500,000 gallons of water are used to water the tracks.
The last three Irish National Hunt Festivals have seen 133 overseas runners, with just over a third of these taking prize money and with a total of 12 National Hunt Grade 1 wins.
Spectator Facts
As many as 100,000 spectators are expected to attend the 2008 Irish National Hunt Festival.
The 2007 Irish National Hunt Festival saw a record attendance of 90,868, with a total of 32,883 people watching the races on the Festival Friday alone.
Total betting turnover for the 2007 festival was almost €18 million.
Catering Facts
Organising the Irish National Hunt Festival is a mammoth task. During the 2008 festival, it’s estimated that:
- around 55,000 meals will be served, with 1000 catering staff and 70 chefs working in 12 kitchens
- 7,000 bottles of Moët, 2,000 kegs of lager and stout, 1,000 sides of smoked salmon, 5,000 kgs of beef, and 1,000 racks of lamb will be consumed!
Commercial Facts
The 2008 National Hunt Festival is expected to generate close to €70 million for the local economy – up on last year’s €55 million as a result of the extension of the festival from four to five days.
The Irish National Hunt Festival at Punchestown is Ireland’s biggest annual corporate event, with about 28,000 corporate covers. About 2,000 UK and Irish companies entertain at the Punchestown Festival. It has high-profile sponsorships from companies like Kerrygold, Guinness, Menolly Group and ACC Bank.
The Irish National Hunt Festival attracts around 25,000 corporate guests.
Have you picked your favourites for the 2008 Irish National Hunt Festival?
