Musselburgh is on the money and Channel 4 should recognise that

NEWS that Channel 4 has finally put the BBC’s moribund television coverage of racing out of its misery has been welcomed throughout the sport.

Clare Balding apart, BBC TV’s approach to racing had become almost laughable, with snooker player John Parrott paraded as some kind of betting expert – he made Angus “Statto” Loughran look like an intellectual giant – and more attention paid to celebrities and fashion than the horses. The BBC will still have a presence in the sport. Radio Five live will continue to cover racing and, in Cornelius Lysaght, they have a man who really knows about the sport, not least because he is an owner himself. Geoff Webster on Radio Scotland will also continue to do his useful stuff.

From next year, however, Channel 4 will be the sole terrestrial channel showing racing, and it is surely indicative that they have invested as much as £20 million over four years to be able to show the Derby, Grand National and Royal Ascot, to add to their existing portfolio led by the Cheltenham Festival.

No broadcaster would spend that kind of sum and not put a great deal of effort into promoting the sport.

The viewers of Countdown may have to do with a another week of missing their daily fix during Royal Ascot, but it’s a small price for Channel 4 to pay in order for them to be able to say “we are the racing channel”. Yet Channel 4 will only be able to make that claim if they remember that they have a responsibility to racing across the UK. The rich variety of racing across Britain is its greatest asset, and Channel 4 has given good service to Ayr with its guaranteed coverage of the Scottish Grand National and Ayr Gold Cup.

Musselburgh has also benefited, with last year’s coverage of the two big races at the East Lothian track on Derby Day, the Edinburgh Cup and Scottish Sprint Cup.

Talk of making the Edinburgh Cup a £150,000 race – it would be the richest Flat race in Scotland – has been heard down East Lothian way and, certainly, racecourse general manager Bill Farnsworth is keen to see the best three-year-olds outwith the Derby performing at Musselburgh.

And why not? Further evidence of Musselburgh’s ambition will come tomorrow when it will announce a new £50,000 Royal Mile Handicap to be run on 7 April, Easter Saturday.

Such excellent prize money is rare, but it has long been Farnworth’s philosophy that even smaller courses such as his can attract better-quality racehorses and thus more spectators, if good prizes can be made available. It’s a belief shared by everyone in Scottish racing.

Sponsorship of racing is hard to get unless there is guaranteed media coverage, and that’s where Channel 4 could make a serious difference.

All five of Scotland’s racecourses have ambitions for the future, and in spectator terms, the sport has boomed in the last 20 years.

If Channel 4 is serious about becoming the racing channel of choice, it must recognise that Scotland is serious about racing.

n Premio Loco (5-1) improved his fine record on the all-weather by landing the Blue Square Winter Derby for Chris Wall and George Baker at Lingfield yesterday. Cai Shen was second and Circumvent third.