At The Races and Sky Sports Racing will be the exclusive, new non-terrestrial broadcast home of Hong Kong racing in the UK and Ireland until July 2022, At The Races and The Hong Kong Jockey Club announced today.

Hong Kong’s 2018/19 season will feature a record £120m ($HK 1.2 billion) in prize money and will be broadcast live in the UK and Ireland on At The Races until the end of this year and thereafter in full HD on Sky Sports Racing.

Racing in Hong Kong has been overseen by the Hong Kong Jockey Club since 1884. The Club boasts some of the world’s most prestigious thoroughbred races and one of the largest pool betting operations with annual turnover of £11.9 billion ($HK 124.2 billion).

The LONGINES Hong Kong Cup (2000m), worth HK$28 million (£2.8m), is one of the two richest races in the world at a mile and a quarter on turf. The LONGINES Hong Kong Mile (1600m) and LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint (1200m) are the most lucrative Group 1 turf races in the world over their distances, worth HK$25 million (£2.5m) and HK$20 million (£2m) respectively.

Matthew Imi, Chief Executive, At The Races said: “The LONGINES Hong Kong International Races is one of the world’s greatest racing fixtures. We are delighted to partner with the Hong Kong Jockey Club to deliver ground breaking coverage of this spectacular event and to promote consistently throughout the rest of the season the high-quality racing that the Club supports.”

George Irvine, Commingling Development Director, HKJC said:“Sky Sports is recognised globally as a benchmark in sports broadcast and innovation. This new partnership aligns with The Hong Kong Jockey Club’s deep-rooted values in world-class leadership and continuous development.

“We want to continue to engage UK and Ireland audiences in our premium racing product. ATR and Sky Sports have significant fan bases already across TV and digital channels and we will work with them not just on live race coverage but on a weekly, dedicated preview programme to showcase Hong Kong racing.”