Ascot switches to tune in with Sky Racing channel

Track decides to end TV deal with Racing UK Finian’s Oscar dies after suffering from rare colic

Racing from Ascot will be broadcast on the new free-to-air Sky Sports Racing channel from next March, the track and At The Races have announced.

Sky Sports Racing, which will not be a subscription channel, is due to replace the current ATR station on Jan 1, 2019, and Ascot has now followed Chester and Bangor in switching from Racing UK.

At The Races will also manage UK streaming for betting rights for the course in a deal which Ascot’s chief executive Guy Henderson believes is best for the track.

He said: “Ultimately, Ascot, as a statutory racing trust, operates to deliver the best racing we can, the best facilities we can and the best on-course and off-course customer service we can. Our strategy is to develop the right mix of collaborations with organisations in the UK and internationally to deliver this.”

Juliet Slot, chief commercial officer at Ascot, said: “We have chosen them because of the significant investment and commitment to the sport and the fact that Sky Sports Racing is available in more than 14 million homes.”

Racecourse Media Group is the parent company of RUK and their chief executive Richard Fitzgerald said yesterday: “We look forward to continue working with Ascot on a number of their media ventures. We are proud to have played a part in significantly increasing Ascot’s media rights revenues over the last four years and wish Ascot well.”

Ascot switched from ATR to RUK in 2014 and there has been a steady migration of tracks in the same direction. This, however, is the first time a course have gone back the other way.

There was sad news yesterday when it was announced that the Colin Tizzard-trained Finian’s Oscar has died. The six-year-old suffered complications after being treated for colic and died of organ failure. Finian’s Oscar, a Grade One winner at Aintree for the past two seasons, was owned by the late Alan and Ann Potts. He won seven of his 13 races under rules and earned over £220,000 in prize-money during his relatively short career.

Tizzard said: “Obviously horses get colic, but to get this type is rare. He went to the best place in England to be treated, but they still couldn’t save him. It’s very sad.”