Boodles Announced as New Sponsors of Cheltenham Gold Cup
The new racing season is upon us, and jockeys, horses and punters are gearing up for one of the most anticipated fixtures in the jump racing calendar: Cheltenham Festival.
Renowned for being one of the biggest betting events of the year, the Cheltenham Festival pits some of the world’s best racehorses against each other across four incredible days of action.
And this year, the Jockey Club announced that Boodles would be continuing its long-standing support of the event by becoming the sponsors of the Cheltenham Gold Cup race.
The showpiece race of the Cheltenham Festival has delivered some memorable moments over the years. From Best Mate’s Arkle-tieing Gold Cup hattrick in 2004 to Desert Orchid’s unforgettable finish in 1989 and the mouthwatering clash between Kauto Star and Denman in 2008 – the Cheltenham Gold Cup encompasses everything great about jump racing.
Boodles Replaces Magners as Cheltenham Gold Cup Sponsor
Luxury British jeweller Boodles, which already has a long-standing bond with the Festival, has been named new sponsors of the Cheltenham Gold Cup after Magners ceased sponsorship of the race in 2020.
Magners was supposed to sponsor the blue riband event between 2019-21, with the option to extend for another year but announced in December 2020 that it was terminating the sponsorship.
Since then, it has been revealed that the Jockey Club is suing Magners’ cider maker C&C Group for over £1.4million due to terminating its sponsorship and partnership with the Cheltenham Festival.
Having supported the Festival since 2014, Boodles was delighted to reveal that it would be officially sponsoring the Cheltenham Gold Cup. The jewellers have previously supported races at Cheltenham, including the Leading Jockey Award, which it sponsored between 2014-18 and the Juvenile Handicap Hurdle race, which Boodles became official sponsors for in 2018.
While the Jockey Club has not disclosed the length of the agreement or whether the partnership would include naming rights for the Festival, Ian Renton, Managing Director for Cheltenham Racecourse and The Jockey Club’s West Region, said:
“Cheltenham is delighted to be associated with such an iconic British brand, and are very proud to see our partnership with Boodles expand to include the most prestigious Jump race in the world.”
Meanwhile, Boodles Chairman Nicholas Wainwright said:
“We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to sponsor the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
Boodles has been associated with horse racing at Aintree for a long time – having been established in Liverpool – and of course in recent years at the home of jump racing, Cheltenham.”
National UK children’s charity, WellChild, will also benefit from this year’s Cheltenham Gold Cup race, as Britain’s leading retailer of fine diamond jewellery agreed to donate a piece from its “Raindance” collection to auction in support of WellChild’s cause.
Who are Boodles?
Boodles is the only fine jewellery brand in the UK that originates from Liverpool. The family-run business has been steered by six generations of the same kin, with brothers Nicholas and Michael Wainwright currently at the helm.
Established in 1798 by the Kirk family, Boodles now sponsors various events, ranging from black-tie galas to sports tournaments. It has naming rights to the May Festival at Chester and sponsored races at Bangor, Kempton, Sandown and Yarmouth.
Outside of horseracing, Boodles are the official sponsors for a boutique tennis tournament played by some of the world’s elite and have partnered with British garden designer, Thomas Hoblyn, to create the Boodles “Secret Garden” at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
Boodles pictured the first woman to claim the Cheltenham Festival Leading Jockey title, Rachael Blackmore, wearing the Raindance collection to commemorate the latest sponsorship with the Racecourse.
Blackmore will be defending her title in the Champion Hurdle when the Festival kicks off on March 15th 2022, before attempting the double in the Grand National a month later.
Still, with both of those races under the saddle, there’s no doubt the one race she really wants to land in 2022 is the Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup. She missed out on Gold Cup victory last year after failing to catch Jack Kennedy on Minella Indo by a length.
The Cheltenham Festival showpiece attracts some of the finest racehorses to Prestbury Park in front of a sell-out crowd of 70,000 racegoers. It’s one of the wealthiest non-handicap chases in Britain, with a prize pot of £625,000 and has only had six sponsors since its first commercial investor, Piper Champagne.
Other sponsors include:
- Tote
- Betfred
- Timico
- Magners
- WellChild
In 2022, the Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup will fall on Friday, March 18th and be broadcast live across the UK on ITV’s main channel, Racing TV, BBC Radio 5 Live and talkSPORT.
Although Boodles doesn’t expect to sell a lot of jewellery during the four-day racing bonanza, Managing Director Michael Wainwright said:
“I see this as a potentially unique opportunity and a significant building block for the growth of our brand. It is such a high-profile event relative to anything else we’ve ever done before.
Having been to the races for so many years, I know very well that a lot of the people who go over the four days, which is about 240,000 people, are very much Boodles types.”
This year, Michael’s got his money on Minella Indo for the Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup, claiming that the Irish can win it for a second time.
What horse are you betting on in 2022?
Popular Cheltenham Festival Facilities
Have an enquiry about Cheltenham hospitality?
Cheltenham Festival
One of our Cheltenham Festival Team are ready to help you plan your day at Cheltenham Festival 2024 - Complete this contact form and one of our Cheltenham Specialists will be in contact shortly.
