Henry Beeby and Tim Husbands
Leopardstown Racecourse has announced that Goffs are the new sponsor of the Grade 1 Arkle Novice Steeplechase at the Dublin Racing Festival.
The Grade 1 Goffs Arkle Novice Steeplechase is one of the feature races on Day 1 of the Festival, Saturday 4th February, and boasts a prize fund of €150,000. Attracting a high-class field each year, recent winners include Blue Lord, Energumene, Notebook, Footpad, Douvan, and Un De Sceaux.
Ireland’s premier thoroughbred auctioneers will sponsor the race for an initial three years and will also sponsor the stable staff canteen on both days of the Dublin Racing Festival. Goffs previously supported the festival with sponsorship of the Grade 2 Future Stars Bumper since the inception of the event.
Announcing the sponsorship, Goffs Group Chief Executive Henry Beeby said: “Goffs is proud to sponsor the Arkle Novice Chase at Leopardstown especially as the Dublin Racing Festival is one of the great recent success stories in Irish Racing. Indeed, it has been our ambition for some time to increase our involvement at Leopardstown as we evolve our diverse portfolio of sponsorships to support Irish racing.
“The Arkle name has particular resonance for Goffs as the iconic Champion was sold as a three-year-old to Tom Dreaper on behalf of his owner The Duchess Of Westminster at Goffs in 1960, and so the rich heritage of the “Irish Arkle” is a perfect fit for us whilst our ongoing support of the stable staff canteen recognises the dedicated backroom teams who put on the show for us all.
“Following on from the Goffs Thyestes Chase the week before, a race also won by Arkle, the Dublin Racing Festival marks the start of the inspection period for the market-leading Goffs Land Rover Sale which now holds the majority share of the Irish three-year-old store horse market and consistently produces Grade 1 stars year on year.
"We look forward to working with the team at Leopardstown on another superb weekend of National Hunt racing and to an exciting renewal of the Goffs Arkle”.
Tim Husbands, Chief Executive of Leopardstown Racecourse, added: “We are delighted that such a prestigious partner as Goffs, that supports the horse racing industry so extensively, has upgraded their existing sponsorship at Dublin Racing Festival to the Grade 1 Goffs Arkle Novice Steeplechase, a race full of history and heritage. To demonstrate such strong support for this premier National Hunt Festival in February reflects the Festival’s growing level of importance in the calendar, and we are very grateful for this and the continued association with Leopardstown racecourse."
