Paul Nicholls Sponsor

[apracing]

For several years past, the main stable sponsor has been a company called Connaught plc, the connection apparently being through the Tincknell family that own horses with Nicholls (pink and black striped colours), and who are involved with Connaught.

Connaught have also sponsored races in the past, and last year they persuaded Cheltenham to introduce a £50k 2M conditions chase at the November meeting that was specifically designed to suit Master Minded as a prep for the Tingle Creek.

Last October, shares in Connaught plc were trading at over £4, and even after some difficulties early this year, they were still valued at over £3 in May. Soon after that however, a profits warning and the first Coalition budget that indicated their local government contracts might be hit, produced a massive fall in price to just over £1.

Things haven’t improved since then, with the CEO (Mr Tincknell) having resigned, along with his finance director, and this week the shares have fallen to around 16 pence!

And yet, the 2M chase at Cheltenham is still shown in the online program book as the ‘Connaught Chase’, and the Connaught logo still adorns the Paul Nicholls website.

Surprising that this hasn’t been picked up by the media.

AP

[Eastereel]

Interesting stuff. By the sounds of it sponsoring a racehorse trainer is the alst thing that they will be concerned with

[Never Nearer]

And yet, the 2M chase at Cheltenham is still shown in the online program book as the ‘Connaught Chase’

When this story first broke, some weeks ago, Peter McNeille was quoted in the RP as saying that Cheltenham was aware of the situation but considered that the people involved probably had more immediate things to worry about than a race sponsorship some months ahead.

Programme Books tend towards the aspirational more than the definitive. We won’t really know the title and value of this year’s renewal until the Racing Calendar is published around a month ahead of the event.

[Author]

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