A high-class bloodstock agency has signed a two-year deal as the primary sponsor of Cheltenham Cricket Club.

Valentine Bloodstock, based in Devon, has secured a two-year deal with the club’s men’s and women’s section until the end of 2024.

The company is the creation of Ed and Lizzie Partridge and brings together their extensive experiences in both the racing and bloodstock industries to provide a high-class range of services.

Lizzie is a dual celebrated Grade 1-winning rider and dual Cheltenham Festival winning jockey. Ed has worked at world-renowned operations such as Tweenhills and Watership Down, making Valentine Bloodstock perfectly positioned to unlock the potential of any thoroughbred investment.

Whatever your ambitions in racing and breeding, they are perfectly positioned to offer support. Whether you are hoping to acquire youngstock, plan for the future with mating plans or explore bloodstock investment opportunities, they have the expertise to maximise your stock’s potential.

Likewise, their pre-training and breaking service is driven by the same desire to unlock the potential in talented young horses.

Having worked closely with many great horses in training, standing at stud, in foal or at sales, the team at Valentine know what makes the good ones so special. They share a passion for identifying talented young horses and equipping them to embark not only on successful racing careers, but happy and fulfilling lives.

Matt Baker, Head of Communications at Cheltenham CC, spoke to Ed to find out more about the Valentine team, the business and their new partnership with the cricket club.

In a nutshell, what does your company do and how did it start?

Our goal is to help fulfil our clients dreams and ambitions in buying them racehorses that will win races and provide lots of fun days out watching them on racecourses up and down the country. It’s an entertainment industry and I suppose you could say we’re trying to provide the best entertainment possible! It all fell into place organically, Lizzie retired from race riding and my career had reached a point where I felt I could do my own thing within the industry and not be employed by anyone. We’ve thrown a lot at it, so far it seems to be working.

What motivates you?

Success on the track, first and foremost. Horses coming through our system from foal age, watching them progress with us, then going on to be good racehorses for our clients.

What makes VB different to its competitors?

We cover a lot of angles. We’re able to offer a unique product in that I’ve worked for the major breeding outfits so I’m competent working with really young horses and understanding their requirements. Lizzie brings different skills with her background being more racing / pretraining. There isn’t a better judge of a young horse than Lizzie, she’s fantastic at reading and improving them. We’ve managed to assemble a really good team of people, from vets and farriers to representatives in France that work for us, down to the staff we have on our yard at home. From top to bottom we’re trying to offer the best service possible to our clients.

What attracted you to sponsor CCC?

Cheltenham Cricket Club is at the heart of the town that’s synonymous with our sport - it just made sense. We both enjoy many different sports and realise the importance of grass roots being well supported, be that cricket or racing.

I understand you have a family history with cricket? Have you played in the past?

Yes Dad (David Partridge) was a famous cricketer *cough* back in the 1970s , it’s funny as some clients of ours who are similar age to dad also happen to be cricket anoraks, so they know who he is. I was a member of the youth set up from 2001-2006 and played some senior cricket at Cheltenham, before other commitments took over. I have many happy memories of CCC, it’s always been a great club and a beautiful place to play cricket.

Do you have any words of encouragement for the teams this season?

Yes - put it in the stingers.

We look forward to building long term partnerships with both teams, which shall help support some exciting club development projects as we build for the future.

To find out more about Valentine Bloodstock please visit www.valentinebloodstock.com