Welcome return: Irish replays back on screen after deal is agreed

Irish race replays dating from before January 1 have been restored to a number of digital platforms, including the Racing Post, after an agreement was reached between SIS, Horse Racing Ireland, Racing TV and At The Races, the digital arm of Sky Racing.

When the rights to screen live action from Ireland passed from ATR to Racing TV on New Year's Day, archived race replays from before the switchover disappeared from public view, amid recriminations on all sides for not having made new arrangements.

On Friday morning the service returned to ATR and the Racing Post after an agreement was struck for the archive to be restored.

A joint statement issued on behalf of all four companies said: "We are pleased that all parties have reached an agreement which will enable the Irish digital archive to be restored to websites.

"The archive up to December 31, 2018 will be restored on attheraces.com today. It will be available for the rest of 2019.

"RacingTV.com will continue to display Irish archive from January 1, 2019. Archive prior to that date, going back to January 1, 2017, will be available to access over the coming months.

"Other websites which carry video form, such as bookmaker and horseracing websites, will display the complete archive today."

The announcement was welcomed by industry stakeholders. Leading jump jockey Danny Mullins, who had ridden two winners while the archive was absent, joked that it didn't impact his ability to prepare for rides.

"I seemed to ride as many winners while it was gone," he said. "It's good that they're back. You'd be thankful to At The Races for bringing them back, because realistically they didn't have to.

Leading jump jockey Danny Mullins welcomed the return of the Irish racing video archiveCredit: Alain Barr (racingpost.com/photos)

"People weren't happy about it, because it was something they relied on, but things change and times move on. It was a little bit of an inconvenience maybe for some but it was resolved pretty quickly so we're grateful to everyone who worked to get it sorted."

On Twitter, Ger Lyons, who last week described the loss of the archive as "petty, shortsighted and unnecessary", also welcomed its return.

"Fantastic news & thanks to @AtTheRaces for reinstalling the replays," he tweeted. "I very much appreciate this as I’m sure the rest of the Racing community do. Now let’s see if @RacingTV can sell Irish Racing as well over the next 5yrs. #futureinHD"

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