Leading hunts featured on the opening day of Punchestown Festival
20th April 2010

Three of the country’s leading hunts will be specially featured on the opening day of this year’s Punchestown Racing Festival.

Representatives of the Kildare Hunt will be in the Parade Ring at the opening of the Festival. Prior to the 6.40 pm race, riders and hounds from the Ward Union Hunt (counties Meath and Dublin) and the Woodstown Harriers (county Waterford) will parade down the course in front of the Grand Stand.

The Ward Union representatives will Pat Coyle, Huntsman, Darren Campbell, Whip and Kieran Ryan, Honorary Whip. The Woodstown Harriers’ representatives will be Stephen Farrell, Johnny Widger and Eamon Kent.

A spokesperson for the RISE! Rural Ireland Says Enough! campaign said: ‘The showcasing of three hunt packs at Punchestown today is appropriate. It is, after all, the home of National Hunt racing. The success of Irish jockeys, trainers and owners is rooted in the traditional hunting field which the Green Party is now seeking to outlaw. Everyone in racing needs to understand the danger and to be united in resisting it’.

The RISE! campaign will have a marquee near the Grand Stand over the five days of the festival. Leading National Hunt jockeys, who support the campaign, will be on hand each day with their tips. The campaign will be asking race goers to show their support by signing the RISE! petition, which already has more than 53,000 signatures.

The show of support for hunting at Punchestown comes on the day when the Dáil resumes and a Bill to ban the Ward Union Staghounds is expected to be published shortly.

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