Whitbread yesterday announced that it is to end its sponsorship of the three-day Murphy's Irish Craic meeting at Cheltenham in November. It is the end of an association with the track stretching back to November 1960 with the first running of the Mackeson Gold Cup. The meeting was renamed in 1996.

Phil Rumbol, director of sponsorship at Whitbread Beer Company, explained the decision.

"This was a difficult and sad decision to make bearing in mind our long and successful association with Cheltenham racecourse," he said.

"However, following the brand repositioning two years ago the event no longer fits with the brand strategy and does not appeal to our target audience."

Cheltenham managing director Edward Gillespie added: "We are naturally disappointed with Whitbread's decision to end their sponsorship and are enormously grateful for their contribution to Cheltenham over so many years."

Gillespie explained that Cheltenham will decide how they wish to develop the meeting before looking for a replacement sponsor.

"One should never be arrogant, we need to make an attractive proposition to people but we will take our time and hopefully we will have partners to take the meeting on. It has come a long way in the last three years."