A critical vote on whether to accept or reject a €47 million per year media rights deal will be taken by the country’s 26 racecourses on Tuesday.
An Extraordinary General Meeting of the Association of Irish Racecourses could see negotiations go down to the wire on an issue that threatens to split the sector.
A breakaway group of five smaller tracks – Kilbeggan, Limerick, Thurles, Roscommon and Sligo – formed United Irish Racecourses earlier this year after claiming their trust in Horse Racing Ireland, the industry’s governing body, had collapsed.
UIR are unhappy about how media rights income is distributed by HRI, which operates four tracks of its own, and that the funding model used in the proposed deal favours bigger racecourses.
Two other courses are understood to share those misgivings while the situation is complicated further by the potential sale of Ireland’s sole all-weather track in Dundalk to Arena Racing Company.
ARC are direct competitors to Satellite Information Services (SIS) and Racecourse Media Group (RMG) who currently hold the lucrative media rights and want to extend that deal for a further five years starting in 2024.
A further twist is added by ARC’s offer of a guaranteed €100,000 per fixture to the UIR group. Details of that offer have been passed on to HRI’s media rights committee which under legislation must negotiate all such deals.
Months of bitter wrangling over the SIS/RMG offer will finally be put to a vote at the meeting in the in Newbridge which starts at noon.
“Members will have an opportunity to vote on a number of resolutions; once those resolutions are passed, they will have the option to sign or not sign the two deals which are the SIS and RMG contracts,” said AIR’s newly appointed chief executive, Paul Hensey.
He wouldn’t speculate on the likely outcome of the vote while no one from UIR would comment on the matter. One racecourse official did however say that “there’s a lot going on behind the scenes and that will continue”.
Sources have confirmed a majority decision on the SIS/RMG offer, which will keep home viewing behind the Racing TV paywall, will suffice for tracks that vote to accept it. As one official put it, the entirety of the deal might change but not for individual courses.
Under legislation, anyone voting against it faces going back to HRI’s media rights committee to negotiate another deal on their behalf.
Crucial to any outcome could be how Dundalk opts to vote. Interest in any sale to ARC reportedly might have cooled in recent weeks while it is understood agreement with HRI over disputed fixture charges could be close.
Should the track that hosts almost 10 per cent of all fixtures in Ireland row in behind SIS/RMG’s offer it would be a significant boost to the majority of other courses that are eager for the deal to be accepted.
A vote on the deal was originally scheduled for March but had to be postponed.
In other news, Aidan O’Brien’s Ballydoyle team will hope to get their classic bandwagon back on track in Paris this Sunday when both the French 2,000 and 1,000 Guineas take place at Longchamp.
The eclipse of both Auguste Rodin and Little Big Bear in last weekend’s Newmarket 2,000 Guineas was a rare reverse compounded by Meditate managing only sixth in the 1,000.
Before that though the countdown to Epsom continues this week with trials for both the Derby and Oaks at Chester and Lingfield.
Adelaide River will fly the flag in Wednesday’s Chester Vase where he will renew rivalry with the John & Thady Gosden runner, Arrest. Both colts filled the frame behind Dubai Mile in last October’s Criterium de Saint-Cloud.
O’Brien has a record 10 victories in the Vase to his credit including in 2013 when Ruler of The World proceeded to secure Derby glory at Epsom a month later. The 2017 Derby winner Wings Of Eagles previously finished runner-up in the Vase.
Prior to that on Wednesday’s programme, Savethelastdance will put her classic claims on the line in the Cheshire Oaks.
The Galileo filly broke her maiden in impressive style at Leopardstown last month and is a 6-1 favourite in some lists for Oaks glory at Epsom. Ryan Moore will ride Savethelastdance for the first time in the Listed contest.
The Trials focus switches to Lingfield on Saturday.
O’Brien used the Derby trial there for his subsequent 2019 Derby hero Anthony Van Dyck and has left both Bertinelli and Gooloogong in the race Monday’s latest confirmation stage. The latter broke his maiden in good style at Navan in March.
Be Happy, third in a Group Three at Saint-Cloud on her last start, and Lambada, a recent Gowran maiden winner, have both been left in the Oaks Trial at Lingfield.
