Liverpool-founded jewellers Boodles has been named as the new sponsor of the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
The Cheltenham Festival highlight carried the name of children’s charity WellChild last year after cider brand Magners decided to cease sponsorship of blue riband event at the end of 2020.
The jeweller Boodles now steps in to back the Cheltenham Gold Cup having previously sponsored the Leading Jockey Award for four years before taking on the Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle race since 2018.
WellChild will also benefit from the race again this year, with Boodles donating a piece of fine jewellery from its collection to auction to support of the charity.
Boodles was founded as Boodle and Dunthorne with the first shop opened in Liverpool in 1798 and it later amalgamated with the Wainwright family – another Liverpool jewellers firm – in 1910.
They also opened a second store in Chester in 1965, a third in Manchester in 1982 before several in London, including their current flagship store in Bond Street.
Nicholas Wainwright, chairman of Boodles, said: “Boodles is thrilled to have the opportunity to sponsor the Cheltenham Gold Cup. We have had a long association with horseracing at Aintree Racecourse over many years – having been established in Liverpool in 1798 – and of course in recent years at the home of jump racing, Cheltenham.
“Today’s announcement expands a multi-year partnership, starting with our sponsorship of the Leading Jockey Award at the Festival, then the Boodles Juvenile Hurdle and now the Boodles Cheltenham Gold Cup itself.
“Our involvement and sponsorship of the Cheltenham Gold Cup is a perfect fit for us and we are going to enjoy the journey.”
Cheltenham’s managing director Ian Renton added: “It is wonderful to enjoy this association with Boodles, such an iconic British brand, at Cheltenham and we are very proud to see this partnership expand to take on the most prestigious jump race in the world.”
