Victorian thoroughbred racing staying live and free on screens of Seven

Despite speculation recently that Nine could be picking up the rights, Racing Victoria (RV) and Seven West Media (SWM) have announced that premium Victorian thoroughbred racing will continue to be televised live and free on the screens of the Seven Network until at least June 30, 2020.

The new agreement will see 21 premium Victorian Saturday meetings, headlined by the $5 million Stella Artois Caulfield Cup (2,400m) on October 20 and the $5 million Ladbrokes Cox Plate (2,040m) on October 27, broadcast annually across Australia on Channel 7 and/or 7TWO.

Seven said it will cover premium Victorian and Sydney racing on the one channel on a minimum 21 occasions throughout the year.

The premium broadcast will commence on the opening day of Victoria’s Spring Racing Carnival – September 1, 2018 – when Caulfield hosts the $1 million Memsie Stakes (1,400m) and Randwick hosts the Chelmsford Stakes (1,600m), for which the great Winx is the defending champion.

RV and SWM’s premium broadcast agreement comes on top of their existing joint venture partnership, Racing.com, which sees Victorian and South Australian racing showcased on free-to-air Channel 78 (metropolitan) or Channel 68 (regional) every day throughout the entire year.

It is in addition to the broadcast agreement that sees SWM broadcast the four days of the Lexus Melbourne Cup Carnival from Flemington on Channel 7.

Seven Melbourne managing director Lewis Martin said:

“Seven is undoubtedly the home of thoroughbred racing in Australia. We’re incredibly proud and passionate about bringing more of the best Victorian racing to fans across the country live and free.”