THE Irish Restricted Trainers Association has heavily criticised the controversial media rights deal which will see Irish racing pictures move from At The Races to Racing UK next year.

Secretary for the association Denis Coakley commented: “Many of our members and other small-to-medium-sized trainers have benefitted enormously from the profile afforded them by the fact that At The Races is so widely available. It gave them the opportunity to be seen by prospective owners and for many this profile allowed them to build their business.”

Around the same time the media rights deal was announced, RTÉ announced an increase of their coverage of Irish racing, with 25 to 27 racedays to be shown live on the channel for each of the next three years.

“While the increased coverage on RTÉ is welcome, it does not disguise the fact that the 27 days racing to be shown is very concentrated over a number of major festivals. By the nature and the volume of racing that will be covered by RTÉ, this will disproportionately affect the small to medium sized trainers,” Coakley said.

“Currently Racing UK has at most 56,000 subscribers whereas At The Races “regularly reaches 2 million individuals monthly in UK and Ireland households,” according to a submission made by SIS to the London Stock Exchange in 2016.

“Based on current subscription rates, were RUK to even break the 100,000 threshold on the basis of the Irish Racing coverage then the rights have actually been massively undersold. No matter what happens Irish Racing loses.”