Deal likely to secure C4 Racing

The future of racing on C4 looks assured with the channel deciding which organisation will negotiate to become its new sponsor next week.

Racemail understands that at least

two major bids, one from an Irish

bookmaker hoping to increase its

profile in Britain and another from an

organisation with Middle East

connections, will be on the table.

Satellite Information Services, the largely bookmaker-owned company that supplies pictures to most betting shops, are also known to be bidders.

However, betting exchange Betfair, which had widely been predicted as

the most likely new sponsor, are

believed to have fallen down the list of

potential replacements for totesport,

whose deal with C4 will finish at the

end of the year.

Totesport announced that they would

be ending their agreement with the

channel in July in advance of changes

to advertising rules on betting firms

introduced on September 1.

Totesport ploughed £2.5million a year

into C4 racing and the channel indicated that a replacement deal

was necessary to keep the cameras

rolling.

With the BBC's racing coverage now

minimal, there were fears that

racing's major shop window on

terrestrial TV might be lost.

But a C4 insider said last night: "C4 will

decide next week which bid to

proceed with. There will be two or

three bids on the table."

C4 maintains that it requires a

sponsor because it is not prepared to

subsidise its coverage while others

profit from the exposure it gives the

sport.

C4's traditional coverage of this

week's Doncaster St Leger meeting is

now limited to Friday and Saturday.

With all the major races at the

four-day festival consequently

concentrated at the backend of this

week, today's opening day, when the

course's new £32m grandstand will be

officially opened by the Princess

Royal, has a low-key appearance.

However, it does feature the valuable

St Leger Stakes for two-year-olds,

which boasts £300,000 in prize money.