The newly branded British racing network Racing UK, previously known as The Horse Racing Channel, will start broadcasting on Saturday, thirteen days earlier than its rival, At The Races.

Rebranded Racing UK channel to launch service on Saturday

The newly branded British racing network Racing UK, previously known as The Horse Racing Channel, will start broadcasting on Saturday, thirteen days earlier than its rival, At The Races.

The channel plans to show some 4,000 British races a year and broadcast five to eight hours of racing a day, depending on what live action is available from the twenty-nine courses so far signed up.

The launch is timed to the 1.35 first race at Kempton, the £14,000 totesport Handicap, according to www.onlinecasinonews.com.

Racing UK's initial lineup of racecourses will include Goodwood, Doncaster, Musselburgh, Redcar, and Sandown, according to the Racing Post.

The channel will debut as part of the BSkyB family package, and will be available on channel 425, currently used by iSports TV.

Rod Fabricius, general manager of Goodwood racecourse, helped put the UK Racing venture together over the last two months.

"I'm thrilled to be launching as soon as this," Fabricius told Racing Post. "We've had a lot of work to do in a very short space of time, pulling all the strands together. And I'm delighted with the quality of the production team that we are likely to attract."

Highflyer, Racing UK's production company, whose contract was confirmed only last Friday, are still putting together a team of presenters. Former Attheraces front man, Rishi Persad, is confirmed as being on board and will present the first programme.

The new channel, however, still has to convince the rest of Britain's racecourses to join its ranks, particularly given the news that a new Sky backed version of At The Races is hoping to return to our screens in June and rumours of a William Hill branded channel on its way later in the year.