Channel 4 Racing

Channel 4 Racing is the name of the horse racing coverage on Channel 4. The first transmission of racing on the channel was on March 22, 1984 from Doncaster, as it took over midweek coverage which had previously been on ITV. On October 5, 1985 it took over ITV's Saturday afternoon coverage (previously The ITV Seven) when World of Sport finished. From the beginning of 1986, however, the amount of racing covered, especially on Saturday afternoons, was substantially reduced, and not until the late 1990s would it reach the scale it had enjoyed when it was on ITV.

Major events covered by Channel 4 have included the One Thousand Guineas and Two Thousand Guineas at Newmarket (throughout its history), the St Leger at Doncaster (throughout its history) and the Cheltenham Festival (since 1995; previously it was covered by the BBC). It also covered the Derby and Oaks from Epsom from its inception up to and including 2000. From 2001 those events moved to the BBC.

Internationally, it has covered a number of events over the years, including the Breeders' Cup in the United States and the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in France. Its presenters and commentators have included Brough Scott, Derek Thompson, John Francome, Jim McGrath (a different person from the racing commentator of this name on the BBC), John Oaksey, Alastair Down, Graham Goode, Lesley Graham, Simon Holt, Mike Cattermole, Alice Plunkett, Nick Luck, and, perhaps most famously, John McCririck.

When Channel 4 was a co-owner of the At the Races satellite channel, that brand was also used on Channel 4's horse racing coverage, but when At The Races was sold to Sky, the Channel 4 Racing brand was restored.

Withdrawal threat

Channel 4 announced that it was threatening to withdraw from coverage of racing in May 2005 due to spiralling costs. A controversial deal was signed with bookmaker Totesport which ran its lucrative Scoop6 bet on Channel 4 racing and this secured the future of Channel 4 Racing.

However, Channel 4 Racing was thrown into doubt again in July 2007 when Totesport announced it was withdrawing its £2½ million per year sponsorship deal which subsidised the coverage, partly due to another dispute in the sport regarding Turf TV. Dubai Holding (a Middle-East based private hedge fund) have since taken over the sponsorship.

Current portfolio

Channel 4 Racing mainly, but not exclusively, features meetings from the Racing UK courses having signed a three-year contract which runs between January 1, 2007 and December 31, 2009 - the contract guarantees 80 days of racing each year on Channel 4 including Glorious Goodwood for the first time.

External links

• Racing on Channel 4