Extra live racing from Fairyhouse this year© Photo Healy Racing
RTÉ Sport and Horse Racing Ireland have announced that they have agreed a new broadcasting deal for increased live coverage of Irish horse racing for the next three years ensuring that Irish racing fans will continue to enjoy the most prestigious days in the Irish racing calendar free-to-air on RTÉ television and RTÉ Player from February 2018.
Under the new deal, RTÉ will broadcast between 25 and 27 days of live Irish racing television coverage each year for the next three years. Racing from all the major festivals will be featured with live television coverage and simulcast on RTÉ Player within the Republic of Ireland.
The major festivals including Punchestown, Galway and the Christmas Festival at Leopardstown will continue to be broadcast, as well as the biggest races of the year; the Irish Grand National, Gold Cup, Champion Stakes and the Irish Derby from the Curragh.
In addition, this year will also see live coverage of an extra day’s racing from the Fairyhouse Easter Festival on Tuesday 3 April, as well as the Winter Festival from Fairyhouse including the Hatton’s Grace Hurdle on Sunday 2 December. In 2019 and 2020, there will be further additional coverage from Gowran Park and the redeveloped Curragh.
2018’s racing action begins this weekend on RTÉ 2 with two days of live coverage from Leopardstown of the inaugural Dublin Racing Festival including the feature races the BHP Insurance Irish Champion Hurdle and the Unibet Irish Gold Cup.
Ryle Nugent, Group Head of Sport, RTÉ said, “This new enhanced agreement is a statement of intent for RTÉ underlining our continued commitment to Irish racing. Irish horse racing coverage continues to be a priority for us and is an important part of our public service broadcasting remit. In addition to our increased live television coverage, there will also continue to be extensive coverage of Irish racing on RTÉ radio sport programming and RTÉ.ie/Sport will continue to provide all the latest news, racecards and results. We look forward to bringing the public more of the very best action and excitement in Irish racing.”
Brian Kavanagh, Chief Executive of Horse Racing Ireland said, “We have enjoyed a long and fruitful association with RTÉ Sport, and I am delighted that relationship has now been formally extended for another three years and that there will be an increased number of meetings covered. It’s a relationship that goes beyond RTÉ television really, because I know Irish racing is cherished on RTÉ’s other platforms - be it Radio, News, Online, or RTÉ Player - and I am very excited about RTÉ’s future plans for their coverage of racing here in Ireland — beginning with their extended coverage of this weekend’s Dublin Racing Festival”
