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| Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle - Tue March 13th 2007 |
Bonusprint.com To Sponsor Haydock's Champion Hurdle Trial 10/01/07
Haydock Park racecourse is delighted to announce that Bonusprint.com will be the new sponsors of the track's Champion Hurdle Trial, run on Saturday, January 20.
The £50,000 Grade Two contest, run over two miles, has been won by some outstanding performers in its 26-year history, and is an important trial for the Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham in March.
George Ward, Chairman of Bonusprint.com, said today: "We believe that sponsorship is all about relationships and value for money.
"We have known Dickon White [Haydock Park's Managing Director] for many years through our sponsorship at Aintree, and we believe that Haydock Park's Bonusprint.com Champion Hurdle Trial, with BBC coverage, is a perfect vehicle for the promotion of our rapidly expanding digital brand, Bonusprint.com."
One horse that looks like heading to Haydock Park for this year's renewal
is the Nicky Henderson-trained Afsoun, who took an unlucky fall last
time out in the Grade One Christmas Hurdle at Kempton Park on Boxing
Day when still travelling well at the head of affairs.
The five-year-old showed high class form as a juvenile last season,
winding up with a fine third to Detroit City in the Grade One Sportsman
Anniversary 4-y-o Novices' Hurdle at Aintree, and made a very impressive
reappearance this term when storming home by eight lengths at Newbury
in November, despite carrying top weight in the Listed limited handicap
hurdle over an extended two miles.
Henderson said this morning: "The plan for Afsoun at the moment
is to go to Haydock for the Bonusprint.com Champion Hurdle Trial on January
20.
"He is fine after taking a fall last time - absolutely 100 per
cent - and it was unfortunate at Kempton. He just reached for it a bit,
but he is fine now.
"We're not sure if he handles heavy going as he has not run on it before, and that would be a slight worry, but he handles soft ground well.
"As far as future targets go, we'll cross one bridge at a time - the Smurfit Kappa Champion Hurdle may be an option, but he could also go for the Tote Gold Trophy at Newbury."
First run in 1981, the inaugural winner of the Bonusprint.com Champion
Hurdle Trial was the Peter Easterby-trained Starfen, who went on to finish
fourth behind his stable companion, the great Sea Pigeon, in the Champion
Hurdle at Cheltenham.
Gaye Chance, successful in 1982, progressed to take the Stayers' Hurdle (now the Ladbrokes World Hurdle) at Cheltenham two years later, while the 1983 scorer, Ekbalco, was scoring at Haydock after taking Cheltenham's Bula Hurdle (now the Boylesports.com International) and the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton Park.
The 1992 renewal produced its first Champion Hurdle victor in the shape of Granville Again. Martin Pipe's talented gelding fell two out in that year's Champion Hurdle but made amends a year later when getting the better of Royal Derbi by a length.
Gallant mare Flakey Dove took the spoils by 20 lengths for trainer Richard
Price in 1994, and she went on to land the Champion Hurdle in the same
season.
Other high class winners of the Bonusprint.com Champion Hurdle Trial
include Relkeel, who saw off the previous year's heroine Flakey Dove
by eight lengths in 1995, dual scorer Dato Star (1998 & 2000), and
Rooster Booster, the brilliant winner of the 2003 Champion Hurdle, who
triumphed at Haydock the following year.
The 2005 Ladbrokes World Hurdle hero Inglis Drever took the Haydock
prize en route to Cheltenham glory, while last year saw a first Irish
success in the Bonusprint.com Champion Hurdle Trial, as the John Queally-trained
Al Eile produced a gutsy effort on his seasonal reappearance to edge
home by a neck from Mister McGoldrick, who was finishing runner-up for
the second year in succession.
Dickon White, Managing Director of Haydock Park, commented: "Haydock
Park racecourse is delighted to welcome Bonusprint.com, one of racing's
best known and longest established sponsors, as the new backer of the
Bonsuprint.com Champion Hurdle Trial.
"The race has produced some tremendous winners over the years, and we look forward to another top class renewal this year."
ORDER OF RUNNING - HAYDOCK PARK, SATURDAY, JANUARY 20
12.55pm The Sporting Index Handicap Chase 2m £12,500
* 1.25pm The Bonusprint.com Champion Hurdle Trial (Grade Two) 2m £50,000
* 2.00pm The Peter Marsh Chase (Limited Handicap) (Grade Two) 3m £75,000
~ 2.35pm The Anglo Irish Bank Novices' Hurdle (Grade Two) 2m £30,000
3.05pm The Bonusprint.com Novices' Chase (Grade Two) 2m 4f £35,000
3.40pm The Red Square Vodka "Fixed Brush" Novices' Hurdle 2m 4f £5,500
4.10pm The Betrescue Antepostmag.com "Junior" Standard Open National Hunt Flat Race 1m 5f £2,500
* BBC Televised Races
~ Channel 4 Televised Race
