Sporting Life has been unveiled as the new sponsor of the Arkle Challenge Trophy at the Cheltenham Festival in a three-year partnership with The Jockey Club and Cheltenham Racecourse.
The Grade One, two-mile novice chase is one of the highlights of the opening day of The Festival and marks the brand’s first significant move into horseracing sponsorship.
Sporting Life Director, Sebastian Butterworth, said: “We’re delighted to be supporting the Sporting Life Arkle Challenge Trophy and look forward to working closely with Cheltenham Racecourse to help promote the race and the meeting in general.
“The Festival is the busiest and most important week of our year and it will be great to have our brand associated with one of the crown jewels of British and Irish sport. With the likes of ambassadors Willie Mullins, Ed Chamberlin, Daryl Jacob and Fran Berry we pride ourselves on providing the best build-up to and coverage of The Festival for all racing fans.
“It’s a big year for Sporting Life with major enhancements to our website and apps in the pipeline and, working closely with our racing partners at Timeform, we’re looking forward to an exciting 2021 and this fantastic sponsorship with the Sporting Life Arkle.
“We’re very keen to try to help support the whole industry through this testing period and beyond and this deal is an indication of our intent. Horseracing is a wonderful sport and we’re proud to be associated with such a historic and significant race.”
Willie Mullins has won the Sporting Life Arkle Challenge Trophy four times already and hopes Klassical Dream might be able to make it five in the spring.
“I’m very pleased that Sporting Life are sponsoring the Arkle,” he said. “It’s a race that’s been very good to us over the years. We always target it if we can and hopefully Klassical Dream might be the right sort of horse this time around.
“Ruby Walsh wanted me to go chasing with him last year but I decided to go down the Champion Hurdle route. He’ll go chasing now. He’s a good jumper and he shows plenty of speed. He’s the one I’m looking forward to preparing for it."
Ian Renton, The Jockey Club’s Regional Director, Cheltenham and the South West, said: “We’re delighted to be welcoming Sporting Life as sponsors of the Arkle Challenge Trophy and look forward to broadening our association with their team.
“The race is an established and special feature of The Festival and also one of the highlights of the racing calendar. It’s fantastic that Sporting Life share our passion for a race which has provided us with so many iconic winners.
“The thrill of a two-mile chase at Cheltenham is like no other. We’ve seen some fantastic performances from the likes of Moscow Flyer, Sprinter Sacre and Altior over the years and we’re already looking forward to the 2021 Sporting Life Arkle Challenge Trophy in March.”
