By BBBB
The BBC has announced that it will no longer feature daily horse racing tips on its Radio 4 Today show from Monday June 24th.
The daily horse racing tips feature had been part of the sports bulletin on the show for almost 50 years. However, on Monday presenter Amol Rajan said:
“There’s no racing tips today because we have decided to break the tradition and reserve the tips for the biggest days on the racing calendar.
We will very much continue to cover horse racing, as we do so many other sports, not least through interviews with leading lights in the racing world. And we will sometimes continue to broadcast from the big ticket events like the Grand National or Cheltenham Gold Cup week.”
A statement from the BBC added:
“After careful consideration, we have decided to focus racing tips on the big races across the year.
The Today programme remains committed to covering racing news and this will continue on the programme’s sports bulletins.”
Reports last year suggested that senior BBC executives felt that offering tips for horse racing was irresponsible during a time when gambling is a politically sensitive subject.
The move is the latest in a series of decisions that have affected how the BBC covers sports. In 2022, it discontinued the Saturday classified football results on Sports Report, bringing to an end a 74-year radio tradition.
And in 2020, the corporation oversaw a major reduction in staff, resulting in the departure of horse racing broadcasters Cornelius Lysaght and Jonathan Overend. Mark Pougatch, another well-known presenter, was also informed that there was no longer regular work available for him.
English