World-renowned National Hunt owners, the Donnelly family, have announced that Waterford is one of three areas set to benefit from State Man's victory in the Champion Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.
Joe and Marie Donnelly will be making a generous gesture to charitable initiatives in three Irish hospitals - in Dublin, Waterford and Wexford.
For every win that the Willie Mullins-trained State Man achieves, the Donnelly family will donate towards the Punchestown Kidney Research Fund.
The fund was established in 1990 and it partnered with the Irish Kidney Association in 2022, to set up a Pilot Peer Support Program to help kidney patients and their families.
The fund has donated €150,000 towards a new renal unit at Temple Street Children's Hospital, €50,000 towards two kidney-related research projects, and €10,000 towards its own Sports Program for Dialysis & Transplant patients.
The PKRF has also since donated €60,000 to continue its Art Therapy programmes for dialysis patients in Tallaght, Wexford, and Waterford.
Last April, Joe and Marie Donnelly announced a sponsorship of the Arts programme, which became known as the State Man Art Therapy Programmes.
Following State Man's Champion Hurdle success, which was his ninth Grade One victory in all, a further donation is set to be allocated toward local services.
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