Record Numbers Hit Punchestown
Updated : May 4, 2009
Officials at Punchestown expressed delight as this year's Festival attracted its second-largest overall crowd with 95,109 people attending the five days, compared to 105,669 in 2008.
Today's attendance was 17,754, down from 19,512 on the same day 12 months ago.
Dick O'Sullivan, Punchestown's general manager, said: 'This year's Festival has been marvellous and we are delighted to have had the second-largest ever crowd here to enjoy it.
'We knew beforehand that we had lost well over 10,000 corporate bookings so we actually had more people turning up and coming through the gates this year, which was especially pleasing in these challenging times.
'Our overall attendance were a real vote of confidence in Punchestown and we have taken on a lot of challenges this year, including racing on a really historic rugby day this afternoon with the Leinster-Munster match taking place.
'Our decision to move the starting times to later in the afternoon looks to have proved successful but we will of course be reviewing every aspect of the meeting and take on board the opinions and suggestions made by our racing public to make sure that Punchestown can continue to go forward.
'We would like to thank everyone who made the effort and took the time to come to the Punchestown Festival this year and they created a truly wonderful atmosphere throughout the week. We promised you a party at Punchestown and I hope everyone will agree that we delivered.'