Airline added to roster of partners at Dubai Future Champions Festival
1st October 2019 - Newmarket Racecourses is delighted to announce a new partner in Emirates as sponsors of the Cesarewitch, the £350,000 Heritage Handicap staged on Saturday 12th October, the second day of the Dubai Future Champions Festival.
First run in 1839, the Cesarewitch is one of the oldest and most popular handicaps in the British flat racing calendar. Run over two miles and two furlongs, starting in Cambridgeshire and finishing in Suffolk, the race forms the second leg of the historic ‘Autumn Double’ along with the bet365 Cambridgeshire, staged a fortnight earlier.
Emirates, one of the world’s leading airlines, has long had an association with iconic sporting events and stadiums, notably in football through deals with Arsenal and Real Madrid. Emirates also sponsors rugby, motorsports, golf, cricket, tennis alongside horse racing, including at the Dubai International Racing Carnival and previously as sponsors of the Melbourne Cup Carnival.
The sponsorship of the Emirates Cesarewitch has been achieved through Newmarket Racecourses’ relationship with Godolphin, as part of Dubai’s backing of the course’s season-ending showpiece, the Dubai Future Champions Festival. This agreement is in place until 2022.
This year’s Emirates Cesarewitch will take place as part of The Newmarket Gold Season, a four-week period in the autumn showcasing the very best racing, breeding and attractions in the town of Newmarket.
Amy Starkey, Regional Director of The Jockey Club’s East Region, said:
“We are proud to welcome Emirates on board as sponsor of the Cesarewitch, one of Newmarket’s most historic and popular races.
“With its field of over thirty runners, stretching across two counties, the Emirates Cesarewitch is a unique race and spectacle. Staged on the final day of the Dubai Future Champions Festival, amid a programme of top-class two-year-old racing, the race highlights the diversity and heritage of British racing, and of Newmarket, the Home of Horseracing, in particular.
“We are delighted to partner with Emirates and look forward to a fruitful association with the airline through their support of this key race at the Dubai Future Champions Festival.”
Richard Jewsbury, Emirates Divisional Vice President, UK, commented:
“At Emirates, we are true horseracing enthusiasts so we're delighted to show our ongoing commitment to both the sport and UK communities by sponsoring the legendary Cesarewitch at Newmarket.
“We’ve always been proud to connect sports fans across the globe with the world’s greatest sporting events, so we hope horse racing fans enjoy what is set to be another exciting experience and wish competitors the best of luck for this year’s race!”
The Newmarket Gold Season
The Newmarket Gold Season is a four-week period stretching across September and October encompassing the autumn highlights for the town’s racing and breeding industry.
As well as featuring four consecutive weekends of high-class racing, including the Cambridgeshire Meeting and Dubai Future Champions Festival, The Newmarket Gold Season starts with the Henry Cecil Open Weekend and concludes with the end of the Tattersalls October Yearling Sale, Europe’s premier yearling sale.
The Newmarket Gold Season showcases some of the world's best and most valuable thoroughbreds in the sales ring, on the racecourse and at stud and promotes the town of Newmarket as a destination point throughout this four week period.
The Newmarket Gold Season – Remaining Key Dates
Sun Chariot Day – 5 Oct
Tattersalls October Yearling Sale, Book One – 8-10 Oct
Dubai Future Champions Festival – 11-12 Oct
Discover Newmarket Tours autumn itinerary
Dalham Hall Stud Tour – 4 Oct
Tattersalls Tour October Yearling Sale, Book 1 – 9 Oct
Feature Tour With Sir Mark Prescott – 26 Oct
