Record number of broadcasters showcased Dubai World Cup fixture

Mystic Guide wins the 2021 Dubai World Cup. Credit: DRC

The $30.5 million Dubai World Cup fixture was showcased by a record number of broadcasters on Saturday 26 March.

Dubai Racing Club, working with its distribution and production company Racecourse Media Group (RMG) and HBA Media, secured a truly worldwide audience for the event held at Meydan Racecourse. For the first time, those watching in UAE and Saudi Arabia were able to watch the day on Twitter, while those in the skies and the seas could watch live on-board selected airlines and cruise lines via the Sport 24 network.

European broadcasters included: Equidia (France); Racing TV and Sky Sports Racing (UK, Republic of Ireland); Virgin Media (Republic of Ireland); SilkNet (Georgia); and TJK TV (Turkey). The Dubai World Cup also welcomed first-time broadcasters Setanta (Eurasia and Baltics), NENT (Scandinavia) Watch4 (Germany, Switzerland and Austria) and Polsat (Poland). ITV aired content from the fixture within its live broadcast on Saturday in the UK.

There was great interest in the US too – whose superstar Life Is Good was fancied to win the Dubai World Cup. Fox Sports, TVG and NYRA broadcasted the card live, while NBCSN showed highlights in its racing programme. ESPN (Star+) screened the action in South America, Central America and the Caribbean, and SportsMax covered the Caribbean.

The MENA region was served by live coverage from Dubai Racing Channel and Yas TV (UAE).

Far Eastern networks that showed live broadcasts included the Green Channel and Fuji TV in Japan, TVB, Cable, Now TV and HKJC TV in Hong Kong and STC TV in Singapore. TV audiences in a further 13 countries in South-East Asia had access to the raceday courtesy of Eclat, which aired the event for the first time.

Viewers in China watched the action unfold via Wasu, which is another first-time broadcaster, as was Sony Network, which broadcasted the event to its Indian audience.

Africa was served by SuperSport (sub-Saharan Africa) and Sport 240 (South Africa), while Australasia was covered by Racing.com, Sky Thoroughbred Central (Australia) and Trackside (New Zealand).

Trans World Sport offered the fixture added exposure, as did CNN, which covered the race for its World Sport programme. Saudi TV featured the event in a one-hour highlights show. Reuters distributed the event to its networks of news outlets.

The presenting team at Meydan included Nick Luck, Britney Eurton, Rishi Persad, Michelle Yu, Tom Stanley, Angus McNae and Nick Lightfoot, plus commentator Alistair Cohen.

Major General Mohammed Issa Al-Adhab, general manager of Dubai Racing Club, said: “We are delighted RMG and HBA Media have secured a record number of broadcasters from all around the world, including a number of first-time broadcasters. The unprecedented interest is reflective of the global appeal of the Dubai World Cup – one of the great occasions on the sporting calendar.”

Seb Vance, director of communications and international TV distribution at RMG, said: “This is the seventh consecutive year we have worked with Dubai Racing Club on the production and distribution of its racing, which is a great honour for everyone at RMG. Working with our partners Dubai Racing Club and media rights agency HBA Media, we are delighted to bring this spectacular event to a truly worldwide audience.”

Managing director of HBA Media, Frank Sale, said: “HBA is pleased to have supported Dubai Racing Club and RMG in securing a global audience to the Dubai World Cup. We continually strive to bring first-time partners on board to broadcast the sport of horse racing, and we have done this through multiple new broadcasters and platforms.”