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Freezing weather puts spotlight on all-weather tracks in horse racing

January 14, 2025

The plummeting temperatures in the UK in the early stages of 2025 have forced ITV Racing – the sport’s terrestrial broadcaster – to be nimble with their schedule on a Saturday afternoon. Many of the leading Jumps meetings in January have been abandoned due to frozen tracks, but the broadcaster has still been able to show live racing from some of their all-weather racecourses.

Saturday afternoon is often the most important part of the week in horse racing. Having terrestrial free-to-air coverage helps showcase to sport to a wider audience. On what was set to be Lanzarote Hurdle at Kempton recently, ITV Racing sent their cameras to Chelmsford and Newcastle, for all-weather Flat racing from those meetings.

Temperatures Set to Rise ahead of Cheltenham Festival Build-Up

ITV Racing will be monitoring the weather forecast for the remainder of the 2024 National Hunt season, and they will be hoping temperatures rise, as predicted. The Cheltenham Festival in March is the highlight of the Jumps calendar, but many of the leading horses are set to have at least one more run before then.

Cheltenham Trials Day takes place on the last Saturday in January, while Ascot and Newbury stage important trials in February for the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Those meetings tend to attract large viewing figures, as horse racing fans enjoy seeing the best horses in action.

Earlier this season, a new competition was launched for the jockeys, with £1.5 million up for grabs in the David Power Cup. Points are awarded on all ITV Racing Jumps races. The rider with the most points at the end of the season will be the inaugural winner.

All-Weather Championship Finals

If the weather does beat some of the leading Jumps meetings for the remainder of the winter, ITV Racing are set to continue to showcase some of the all-weather racecourses across the UK, with Kempton, Lingfield and Southwell also ready to step in for fixtures.

The promotion of the all-weather meetings has provided a big boost to horse racing trainers who don’t always get exposure on terrestrial television. There are shares in a racehorse available to be purchased today with some of these trainers from as little as £34. These shares have made becoming involved in horse racing ownership much more affordable.

Just like in Jumps racing, the all-weather horses, trainers and jockeys have an end-of-season finale meeting. The All-Weather Championship Finals takes place at Newcastle on Good Friday. This is where many of the leading prizes are handed out, such as the leading jockey and trainer.

This year’s All-Weather Championship Finals is set to be broadcast on ITV Racing. There will be qualifiers for these races over the next few months. The feature race of the afternoon is the All-Weather Middle Distance Championship. There is £175,000 on offer in the race, making it one of the richest All-Weather races in Europe.

With ITV Racing committed to showing UK horse racing until the end of 2026, the sport remains in healthy shape over the next couple of years.

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