Limerick Racecourse today announced that RTE will televise the feature race live on each of the four days of the Shannon Airport Christmas Racing Festival at Limerick Racecourse, for the first time this Christmas, from the 26th to the 29th of December.
In January, RTE announced a new four-year broadcasting deal for live coverage of Irish horse racing, allowing Irish racing fans to continue to enjoy the most prestigious days in the Irish racing calendar, free-to-air on RTÉ Television, and online on RTÉ.ie and RTÉ Player.
As part of the deal, RTÉ broadcast a minimum of 24 days of live Irish racing television coverage each year, featuring the great racing days of all the major festivals which now includes the Shannon Airport Christmas Racing Festival at Limerick.
Earlier this month, Limerick Racecourse announced Shannon Airport as the title sponsors of the Christmas Racing Festival, with nine-time Irish Champion Jockey Ruby Walsh, giving the new sponsorship and RTE broadcasting decision his full support.
Champion Jockey, Ruby Walsh, said: “I think Limerick Racecourse is getting no more than it deserves this year with RTE taking live races to go on terrestrial television. The work they are doing is amazing. If more racecourses could be as proactive as Limerick, racing would be in a far healthier place. Limerick is lucky enough to host a couple of really good races. Last year Faugheen won the (Grade 3 Cliona’s Foundation) Novice Hurdle there before going on to win at the Cheltenham festival and he is currently the favourite for the Champion Hurdle. In previous years, the Greenmount Novice Chase (The Grade 2 Shannon Airport Novice Steeplechase) has produced some wonderful winners including Sir Des Champs and I’ve no doubt it will be another hotly contested race this year.”
Conor O’Neill, General Manager of Limerick Racecourse, said: “It’s without doubt, a massive boost for Limerick Racecourse that the Shannon Airport Christmas Racing Festival will be televised live this year on each of the four days to homes throughout the country by RTE. It really emphasises the quality of racing that is staged at Limerick Racecourse and the importance that the four day Festival has on a national scale. I’m delighted that RTE have recognised this and we have the opportunity to showcase one of Ireland’s most modern and state of the art racecourses to such a wide audience. The prestige and profile which this brings is phenomenal.”
