16 September 2014 – Racing Post

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Next year’s All-Weather Championships Finals day on Good Friday will have live terrestrial TV coverage for the first time after Channel 4 agreed to extend its output to include the £1 million fixture.

A year after the new meeting made its debut at Lingfield on the public holiday, ending Good Friday’s position as a blank day in the racing calendar, Channel 4 have committed three hours of air time to the event.

The 2015 fixture will fall on April 3, two weeks earlier than Good Friday this year when the meeting was shown only on Attheraces.

The seven race card featured series finals for fillies and mares, three-year-olds, stayers, sprinters and milers, climaxing with a ‘classic’, which was won by Grandeur. Qualification for next year’s finals, for which both Coral and Ladbrokes have signed up to continue as sponsors, will begin from October 30.

Tony Kelly, managing director of Lingfield’s owners Arena Racing Company, said: “Arc and Channel 4 enjoy working together to help showcase British racing. The Arc team is absolutely delighted Channel 4 will be showing the All-Weather Championships £1 million Finals Day next year. After only their first year the All-Weather Championships are already making a positive impact on raising the profile and prestige of all-weather racing in Great Britain.

“We would particularly like to thank our sponsors who showed belief in the initiative from the outset. We are eager to get started on year two and look forward to both Channel 4 and At The Races continuing to do a fantastic job of showcasing racing across Arc’s racecourses as we seek to promote and grow British racing in the years ahead.”