'This is an extraordinary opportunity for an ordinary horse' - Punchestown launches The Full Circle series

Punchestown has unveiled a new programme of races aimed at giving smaller owners and trainers the chance to bid for a big prize and also to attract more runners from Britain.

The Full Circle series will incorporate ten qualifiers, which will be run in Ireland and Britain, with the final scheduled for the opening day of Punchestown's spring festival on April 30 next year.

The initiative is aimed at two-and-a-half-mile handicap hurdlers rated in the region of 130. Horses will have to finish in the first six places in a qualifier to be eligible for the final, which will have a prize fund between €80,000 and €100,000.

The qualifiers will be held over the next four months. The first one took place at Punchestown on Tuesday and are then scheduled to take place at Huntingdon (January, date to be confirmed), Naas (January 28), Kelso (February 16), Gowran Park (February 17), Wincanton (February 28), Down Royal (March 17), Cork (March 21), Ludlow (March 21) and Wetherby (March 28).

Each qualifier will be run over a distance between two miles and two furlongs and two miles and six furlongs and confined to horses rated 130 or lower, while the final will be run over two and a half miles.

Richie Galway, Punchestown's racing manager, said: “There are two main objectives for this new series. First, we acknowledge just how high the standard of racing is in Ireland at the moment. Hopefully this series will give the smaller trainers and owners an opportunity to compete for a huge pot on a feature day in the calendar.

“The second reason is to reinvigorate the essential involvement of British-trained and -owned horses at Punchestown. We have been fortunate enough through the years to have amazing support from throughout Britain, so we have qualifiers across all regions. This is an extraordinary opportunity for an ordinary horse."

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