Barberstown Castle Novice Chase
The Barberstown Castle Novice Chase is a Grade 1 National Hunt Steeplechase in Ireland which is open to horses aged five years or older. It is run at Punchestown over a distance of about 2 miles (3,219 metres), and during its running there are eleven fences to be jumped. The race is for novice chasers, and it is scheduled to take place each year during the Punchestown Festival in late April or early May. During the 1990s the event was sponsored by the Bank of Ireland and Tripleprint. It was promoted to Grade 1 status in  1998, and its sponsorship was taken over by Swordlestown Stud in 2000. Ryanair sponspored the race from 2010 to 2021 and the present sponsor, Barberstown Castle, began supporting the race in 2022. The field usually includes horses which ran previously in the Arkle Challenge Trophy at Cheltenham, and the last to win both races was Footpad in 2018. ----