LAST weekend saw the second afternoon of racing on ITV, the new free-to-air providers of horseracing on televisions in these islands. This has some disadvantages for Irish viewers who require adroit navigational skills on their Sky remote controls simply to find the programme. For those who can access the coverage, it comes with none of the modern conveniences that we have become accustomed to, such as pause or record.

The usual industry figures have given their tuppence worth on the new production though I suspect that those employed in the industry are not really the target market that the ITV bosses have in mind. As Lee Mottershead commented, the risk of losing existing viewers on terrestrial TV in order to attract new ones may be critical to the future of the sport.