Horse Racing Ireland is putting a heavyweight promotional campaign behind the new Champions Weekend taking place this September.
Officials have been present at major race meetings in the past week at Chester, Newmarket and York highlighting the combination of the Irish St Leger and Irish Champion Stakes under the new sponsorship of Quipco.
They are also following many of the suggestions from the European Sport Tourism Summit in pulling together accommodation and activity strands to make the whole package attractive to overseas visitors. These include thoroughbred trails on the Curragh and a range of deals with leading hotels.
“Irish Champions Weekend will, in effect, become the first leg of a European triple crown of end-of-season festivals, to be followed by the Arc meeting in France and British Champions Weekend,” said Brian Kavanagh, CEO of Horse racing Ireland.
“This will be a showcase for flat racing in Ireland, creating a high profile event to attract the best horses in the world and to demonstrate the value and importance of the Irish flat breeding and racing industry. We believe that it will quickly establish itself as a major racing attraction at home and become part of the calendar for international flat racing fans.’’
A new video commissioned to assist the promotion highlights the €1 Billion value Irish racing has to the economy and the importance of the sport in different areas of the country.
