• Post published:May 15, 2019

TRM and The Curragh Racecourse are delighted to announce a new and exciting partnership which will aim to enhance the race day experience for owners, trainers, jockeys and stable staff.

The partnership will include sponsorship of a series of very competitive handicaps with significant increases in prize money, kicking off with the first running of the ā‚¬100,000 ā€œTRM Excellence in Equine Nutrition Handicapā€, which will be the feature race on Day One of the Curraghā€™s Grand Opening Weekend on 24th May.

Entries for the first running of the 100,000 euro contest includes fourteen trained in Britain from a variety of trainers including Richard Hughes, Roger Varian, David Oā€™Meara and Karl Burke. Gordon Lord Byron, Smash Williams, Ardhoomey, Jassaar and Marshall Jennings are amongst the Irish trained contenders.

A variety of incentives to benefit stable staff will also be introduced for the first time and help celebrate the hard work and dedication of thousands of people who are associated with the horse racing industry. The TRM ā€˜Best Turned Out Winners Drawā€™ is the first of the new initiatives that will be rolled out across the season. Every winner of a Best Turned Out prize will gain entry into a draw and will be in with a chance of winning ā‚¬1,000 at the end of the season and each winner will also receive a TRM-Curragh gilet. The ā€˜BTOā€™ award is already a fantastic way to reward the grooms for their hard work and effort in not only getting their Horse to the races but turning them out beautifully too. This initiative will give The Curragh and TRM an additional platform to Champion stable staff throughout the season.

The second new initiative being introduced as part of this fantastic partnership is The TRM Stable Staff Appreciation Month (August). TRM and The Curragh will be activating a sponsorship series of four races across the Curraghā€™s four Friday evening fixtures in August ā€˜The Curragh Summer Soundsā€™ and will be incentivising stable staff to come racing throughout the month of August.

TRMā€™s Chief Operating Officer Laurence Masterson commented:

ā€œTRM are proud to announce our partnership with the Curragh Racecourse and its iconic new facilities. The Curragh being the ā€˜Home of Championsā€™ is also the home of TRM which established, our now global, equine supplement business here on the Curragh 30 years ago.

Sponsoring the TRM ā€˜Excellence in Equine Nutritionā€™ ā‚¬100K premier handicap on the Grand Opening weekend starts an exciting journey for TRM and the Curragh racecourse. Throughout the season we will reward stable staff through our Best Turned Out awards for every race run at the Curragh, culminating in a ā‚¬1,000 prize draw. In addition, TRM will be supporting stable staff appreciation month (August) during the Curragh Summer Sounds meetings.

TRM are pleased to be able to partner with a race course that is futuristic and modern not only physically but also in its thinking and will no doubt attract a global audience to Co Kildare. The opportunity to couple this with rewarding one of the most important sectors of the racing industry – stable staff and grooms – makes our partnership with the Curragh racecourse an ideal fit.ā€

Derek McGrath, CEO of the Curragh said
ā€œWe are very pleased to have this exciting opportunity to develop and strengthen our relationship with our closest neighbour by putting together a real and meaningful partnership that will acknowledge and show appreciation for the tremendous work carried out by those people who are the life blood of our industry

In addition, TRM will continue to support the TRM Midsummer Race Evening on Friday 7th June. Feature races are the Group 3 TRM Excellence in Equine Nutrition Ballyogan Stakes and TRI Equestrian Silver Stakes, an established trial race for the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby with the winning horse if a 3 year old, gaining a free entry into Irelandā€™s premier classic race