Michael O'Leary displays the new Gold Cup for the Fairyhouse Easter meeting.

Ryanair is new sponsor of fairyhouse gold cup

Ryanair was today announced as the new titlesponsor of the Grade 1 novice chase, to be run as the Ryanair Gold Cup, in Fairyhouse Racecourse on Easter Sunday, 5th April.

The Ryanair Gold Cup is one of the top novice chases in the National Hunt calendar and is a race steeped in history, with a fantastic tradition of producing chasing stars of the future. It is the feature race on day one of the three day Easter Festival at Fairyhouse, which runs from April 5th to April 7th.

To celebrate its new sponsorship and its 30th birthday, Ryanair will be working withFairyhouse to encourage many thousands of Ryanair customers to go racing with the family on Easter Sunday with initiatives including:

30 free entrance tickets for Ryanair customers (on a first come first served basis) flying home to Ireland for Easter weekend

A buy one get one free offer to all Ryanair customers who wish to “bring a friend” racing at Fairyhouse on Easter Sunday

A free family holiday worth over €3,000 will be won by one lucky racegoer on Easter Sunday

30 free flight vouchers will be distributed to racegoers by Ryanair at the Easter Sunday fixture

Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary said: “Ryanair is delighted to celebrate its 30th birthday in 2015 by sponsoring this prestigious Grade 1 race at Fairyhouse on Easter Sunday and we look forward to a successful running of the Ryanair Gold Cup on April 5th. Ryanair’s low fares, best customer service and biggest route network in Europe make us Europe’s favourite airline and Ryanair is proud to become the title sponsor of this Grade 1 novice chase. With a bit of luck, it will be won by AP McCoy and generate lots of PR for Ireland’s favourite airline.”

Fairyhouse Racecourse General Manager Peter Roe said: “Ryanair is Europe’s favourite airline and we are delighted to welcome them toFairyhouse as a Grade 1 sponsor at the Easter Festival. It is a great testament to the high regard the Easter Festival at Fairyhouse is held in to have a business ofRyanair’s stature get behind the event. We look forward to working with the Ryanair team as we approach what promises to be another exciting Fairyhouse Easter Festival.”

The Ryanair Gold Cup, run over two and half miles, is the highlight of the opening afternoon of the Easter Festival at Fairyhouse. Boasting a six-figure prize fund for the first time since 2010, the race has an illustrious roll-call of winners including Arkle, Carvills Hill, Like A Butterfly and Flemenstar. The 2015 renewal of the race has Ryanair as title sponsor for the first time, as this season’s group of top novice chasers line up for the prestigious prize.