Punchestown Kidney Research Fund
Charity Race

Dual Champion Hurdler Hardy Eustace took part in the 2010 race.
Picture used with kind permission of Healy Photography.

The Charity Race

• Founded in 1990 by James Nolan, it is traditionally the last race on the final day of the Festival.
• It is the Race for the “Butcher, the Baker and the Candlestick Maker” – but all participants must pass a one-day course at R.A.C.E. to prove fitness and competency before taking part.
• It is an amateur flat race of 1 mile & 7 furlongs, run over the Punchestown Championship Racetrack in front of 30,000 people.
• In the past riders from the world of racing have included Jessica Harrington, Frank Berry, Tommy Carberry, John Joe O’ Neill, Oliver Sherwood, Arthur Moore, Tony Mullins and Robert Hall.
• Past high profile horses in the Charity Race include former Champion Chasers Moscow Flyer, New Mill & Hardy Eustace and also Bobbyjo who won the Irish National in l998 and the 1999 Aintree National
• The equestrian world has also been well represented with Bertram Allen, Jessica Chessney, Edward Doyle, Alfie Buller, Susan Shortt, Vina Buller, Mark Barry and Mairead Curran all participating.
• Jon Kenny from D’unbelievables took part in 1998 and 1999.
• Riders undertake to raise a minimum of €1,500 in sponsorship as a condition of entry
• The Race is fully supported by the Punchestown Racecourse and it is run adhering to strict guidelines to ensure the safety of all participants.
• Ultimately it gives the once in a lifetime opportunity to people from all walks of life to experience the thrill of being a jockey for a day at Ireland’s National Hunt Racing Festival.
• Such is the popularity of the Charity Race that there is a waiting list for the Race every year.
• The closest finish was in 1991 when Frank Berry on Slaney Cuisine just pipped Robert Hall on Lady Midas from Ted Walsh’s yard to win – and a young Ruby Walsh led up Robert Hall that day!!!

Garret McBride, Mick Dwyer, Sonia Treacy, Tracey Piggott, Anne Marie Molloy, James Nolan, Darren Cawley with the ORGAN DONOR CARD

How the Race came About

The Gift of Life

• James Nolan was born in 1967 with progressive renal failure from birth
• For the first 19 years of his life he spent much of his time in hospitals and had extensive medical treatments and several operations.
• In 1986 James was put on Dialysis in the Meath Hospital, Dublin
• In April 1987, the Nolan family were approached to consider the possibility of a living related transplant and various tests were carried out to determine the suitability of a donor within the family
• James’s sister Catherine was found to be 100% compatible as a kidney donor and she made the amazing decision to donate one of her kidneys and give James the Gift of Life.
• When James was 20 the transplant took place on 25^th July 1987, the Feast of St. James
• It was the first living related kidney transplant to be carried out at the Blackrock Clinic, Dublin.
• Once fully recovered, James decided to “put something back” and approached Punchestown Race Course and The Turf Club about the idea of a Charity Race which began in 1990 and has been run annually since.
• James participated in the first 13 years of the race and in 2002 he managed to ride Nero’s Dancer to win the Punchestown Charity Race at 50/1 – a special moment for James, shared with his family.

Michael O’Leary of Ryanair with Darren Cawley, Mick Dwyer, James Nolan, Sonia Treacy, Michael & Garret McBride

DECLARATIONS FOR THE - CARRY AN ORGAN DONOR CARD -
PUNCHESTOWN CHARITY RACE 2016 -

IN AID OF THE PUNCHESTOWN KIDNEY RESEARCH FUND.