RACING in Ireland is being presented with a golden opportunity. This follows the news that RTÉ is to provide extensive coverage of racing in this period when there is a dearth of live sport. Kudos to both the national television channel and Horse Racing Ireland for making this happen.

Lack of access to Irish racing on a terrestrial channel, apart from the big festivals and classic days, has put the sport at a competitive disadvantage when compared with the extensive coverage given to the likes of rugby, soccer and GAA. Every sport wants more exposure and RTÉ cannot accommodate everyone, so this opportunity must be grasped with both hands.

While racing professionals will want the presentation to focus on the product, showing live and recorded races, I feel it would be remiss not to make full use of the precious time on air to woo a new audience for the sport. This will mean going behind the scenes and giving viewers access to racing’s backroom – seeing the stables, the weighing room, the gallops and more besides. This should all be presented in a way that is accessible to outsiders. We need to see it from the standpoint of a complete newcomer and not just the hardened professionals.

Some years ago I worked with a group of people, Eimear Mulhern, Elizabeth McCalmont, Michael O’Hagan and Nick Nugent among others, to raise funds for President McAleese’s Gaisce programme. A raceday for young people at Leopardstown was the project and one of the initiatives was to provide information for the students who would be attending. We brought in the well-known Ella McSweeney, of Ear To the Ground fame, to help.

Her choice for that role was deliberate. I had met Ella at the stables of John Oxx when Sea The Stars was about to transition from being a horse in training to a stallion, moving from Currabeg to Gilltown. Ella had no prior experience or knowledge of racing at that time, as I recall, but I was struck by her awe and wonder about the magnificent animal she was reporting on. If that enthusiasm could be bottled and sold, racing would double its audience in no time.

Hugh Cahill will lead the presenting team for the new coverage, and he is also a man for whom racing is a passion. If he can bring this out in all his panel, but remembering to do so in a way that is accessible for not just the cognoscenti, then HRI and Irish racing will be on to a winner. I wish them well in their endeavours.