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racing_news/

At The Races Announces Broadcast Deal With The Japan Racing Association
09/06/05

At The Races announced today that it has reached agreement with The Japan Racing Association to broadcast eight of the most prestigious races in the Japanese racing calendar. With the exception of the Japan Cup (Gr.1) on November 27th all races will be exclusive to At The Races in the UK and Ireland. The first of these, the Yasuda Kinen (Gr.1) won by Asakusa Den'en, was shown last Sunday morning. The combined prize money available across all eight races is $16.96 million.

Mr. Shuji Kashiwada, The Japan Racing Association's London Representative, said "We are delighted to have reached this agreement with At The Races, the leading UK horseracing channel.The JRA is actively seeking to further the internationalisation of Japanese racing, and I believe that this broadcasting agreement will be a fantastic opportunity to share our racing with the viewing audiences of the UK and Ireland. With a further seven prestigious races due to be broadcast on At The Races this year, we are hoping to generate further interest in Japanese racing. We have recently seen the potential for Asian racing in contests such as the Hong Kong Champions Mile which brought Attraction vs. Silent Witness to the screens of the UK public with the re-match between Silent Witness and Bullish Luck in the Yasuda Kinen in Japan. With initiatives such as the Asian Mile Challenge Series and the Global Sprint Challenge Series being introduced, the JRA is delighted that the viewing public will have access to this truly international racing."

Matthew Imi, Chief Executive of At The Races, said "At The Races is very much the best positioned horseracing channel to showcase such high quality races and work with the JRA to develop the profile of their racing in the UK and Ireland. As well as the obvious benefit of having a consistently large viewing audience we also have a twenty four hour a day broadcast schedule which gives us the flexibility to show international races which are run before 9am UK time."

The agreement between At The Races and The Japan Racing Association covers the following races:

Date Race Racecourse Prize Money
Sunday, June 5th Yasuda Kinen (G1) Tokyo $1,709,000

Sunday, June 26th Takarazuka Kinen (G1) Hanshin $2,392,000

Sunday, Sept. 11th Centaur Stakes (Jpn G3) The 5th Leg Of The Global Sprint Challenge Hanshin $736,000

Sunday, Oct. 2nd Sprinters Stakes (Jpn G1) The Last Leg Of The Global Sprint Challenge Nakayama $1,709,000

Sunday, Nov.13th Queen Elizabeth II Commemorative Cup (Jpn G1) Kyoto $1,810,000

Sunday, Nov. 20th Mile Championship (G1) Kyoto $1,709,000

Saturday, Nov. 26th Japan Cup Dirt (Jpn G1) Tokyo $2,362,000

Sunday, Nov. 27th Japan Cup (G1) Tokyo $4,533,000