Video archive deal between At The Races and Racing TV is a major boost for the racing public
No, your eyes aren’t deceiving you. That headline is correct.
From today, replays of races from every track in the UK, Ireland and France stretching back to January 1st 2020 will be available to view for free on both the At The Races and Racing TV websites. This will be a major boost to both websites, but more so than anything else it will be of huge benefit to all their customers and horse racing as a whole in this part of the world.
It should be said that we really don’t appreciate how lucky we are to have access to such in-depth form and race replay databases for free. For example, those that have spent any time studying US racing on US-based websites will know that one is rarely more a couple of clicks away from a monetary charge to view further information.
Having such outstanding form and video resources available for free via websites like attheraces.com and racingtv.com really is a major asset for the sport in this part of the world. Now that the two major rights holders have come to an agreement to share video archives with each other, what was already a wonderful set of resources for followers of British and Irish racing has just got significantly better.
I’ve never really been fond of being cast as being on one side or the other in this scenario, but it is inevitable. ATR and RTV have been and will continue to be business rivals and those that work for either side will always be considered as conflicted in their comments on the subject.
So, consider me conflicted if you will, but I have been consistent in my view across a range of racing issues that our sport and industry is not in a strong enough position in the wider world for its players to be at war with each other over the size of the piece of the pie they receive. It would be far more beneficial and sensible for all involved to be more collaborative and form partnerships that help grow the sport for the greater good of everyone, not just themselves.
That very much extends to the relationship between At The Races/Sky Sports Racing and Racing TV/RMG. There is clearly scope for cooperation between the two groups that is to the great benefit of the racing public. That this step to share video archives have been taken is very commendable and will have bigger picture benefits for many, many people.
