Virgin Bet, celebrating its third year sponsoring the three-day Ayr Gold Cup festival, is set to overhaul the traditional “Best Turned Out” prize across each of its nine sponsored races, rewarding the hard-working grooms who often receive little recognition for their hard work preparing the horses.
For the first time at the festival, Virgin Bet will reward all 25 grooms for their efforts ahead of the signature Virgin Bet Gold Cup race. The winner of the “Best Turned Out” award will win £200, double the prize from 2022, whilst each of the remaining 24 non-winning grooms will also receive an unprecedented runners-up prize of £50.
Outside the Ayr Gold Cup, Virgin Bet is increasing the “Best Turned Out” award prize on all of their sponsored races across the festival and as a unique further prize, all winning grooms will be entered into a draw to win an exclusive “Virgin Experience Voucher” worth £1,000.
With the three-day Festival getting underway on Thursday 21st September, Virgin Bet have also announced that their Ayr Gold Cup race winnings will be donated to Ayrshire Cancer Support, the official charity partner of Ayr Racecourse.
Ric Leask, Marketing Director at Virgin Bet, said: “We are excited to be just days away from our third successive sponsorship of the Virgin Bet Ayr Gold Cup Festival, and this year is set to be the most special yet. Over the past two years, we’ve loved getting to know the good people behind the scenes of the Ayr Racecourse community, so we are delighted to announce two new Virgin Bet initiatives which truly reward those at the heart and soul of racing. The Virgin Bet Ayr Gold Cup is a highlight in both the Scottish and UK racing calendars, and now we can’t wait for the action to begin once again!”
David Brown, Managing Director of Ayr Racecourse, said: “After two fantastic years in partnership, it is exciting to see the contribution Virgin Bet are making not only to the success of the Ayr Gold Cup Festival, but most importantly, the community and people who make it happen. Here’s looking forward to another wonderful Festival and rewarding the good people behind the scenes together with Virgin Bet.”