At The Races to become Sky Sports Racing

At The Races to become Sky Sports Racing

At The Races is set to be the latest channel to join Sky Sports’ stable of channels and will be rebranded Sky Sports Racing from 1 January.

The channel has also attained the rights to show racing from Chester and Bangor-on-Dee.

At The Races lost the rights to show Irish racing from 1 January onwards, with subscription channel Racing UK set to take over, a revelation which was heavily criticised earlier this year. Racing UK will cost €360 per year while Sky Sports Racing will be made freely available to 14 million current Sky and Virgin customers.

Conditions too much for Mendelssohn in Kentucky

Aidan O’Brien’s quest to win the Kentucky Derby will have to wait at least another year after Mendelssohn became the latest European horse to try and fail to win the famous Churchill Downs race.

There were high hopes the son of Scat Daddy could break the mould, but a slow start in treacherous conditions, put paid to his chance and he was eased off by Ryan Moore when heading into the straight, eventually finishing last.

The race was won by Justify, who gave hall of fame trainer Bob Baffert a fifth win in the ‘Race for the Roses’.

Mendelssohn will now be given a break with the Breeders Cup Classic, back at Churchill Downs, the ultimate aim at the end of the season.

Journal heads to Kilbeggan

The Irish Farmers Journal is partnering with Midland Veterinary to bring an extra 2,000 racegoers to Kilbeggan this Friday.

Based in Tullamore, Midland Veterinary has distributed tickets to clients across the midlands and have also sponsored four of the seven races.

The Irish Farmers Journal will also be sponsoring the second race, the Irish Farmers Journal Maiden Hurdle.

As an extra incentive to attract racegoers, Michael O’Leary’s two Grand National winners, Tiger Roll and General Principle will be on parade.