Tour Highlights 

• Experience the "craic" of the Punchestown Festival.
• Enjoy true Irish hospitality at its finest.
• Savour Irish cuisine in one of the numerous restaurants in and around Naas.

Punchestown is the home of Irish National Hunt racing and the Festival brings together the best horses from both sides of the Irish Sea for a week of thrills and spills. In 2008 British runners had a tremendous Festival, winning many of the Grade 1 races. 

Naas is an historic town that has matured through the years to become one of Ireland's more cosmopolitan centres. The local thoroughbred industry produces the f nest racehorses in the world and this has led, over the years, to the establishment of three major racecourses in the immediate area.

Racing in Ireland is unique and for atmosphere, sheer enjoyment and what the locals call the "craic", there is nowhere to beat it! The standard of racing at the Punchestown Festival is of exceptionally high quality and, for some, the Festival runs a very close second to Cheltenham. We are delighted to offer you the opportunity to attend this historic race meeting where you will witness four days of the best week of National Hunt racing in Ireland.

In 2008, on the first day of the Festival, Paul Nicholls saddled the first two horses in the Grade 1 Kerrygold Champion Chase. Twist Magic, ridden by Ruby Walsh, was followed home by Natal with jockey Tony McCoy. The Charlie Mann trained Air Force One took the Ellier Developments Champion Novice Chase to land another Grade I victory for the British.

The second day of the Festival hosted the Grade 1 Punchestown Guinness Gold Cup which saw Paul Nicholls and Ruby Walsh score another victory as Neptune Collonges, also the winner in 2007, proved too strong for his rivals.

The feature race on the third day, the Grade I Ladbrokes.com World Series Hurdle, once again went to a British raider as the Alan King trained Blazing Bailey, ridden by Andrew Thornton, romped home to win by 7 lengths from Refinement and jockey Tony McCoy.

On Friday, the fourth day of the Festival, the Grade 1 ACC Bank Champion Hurdle was another race to fall to the British invaders. Punjabi, trained by Nicky Henderson and ridden by Barry Geraghty, went to the front early on and held the lead to win by 3 lengths from the favourite Sublimity.

At the time of original editing of the above notes the 2009 Punchestown Festival had yet to be run.

Reserved Enclosure Admission is included for all four days.