AT THE RACES AND THE SHANGHAI RACE CLUB MAKE HISTORY AS THEY COMMENCE LIVE STREAMING OF ATR IN MAINLAND CHINA

ASCOT'S GOLD CUP AND THE CURRAGH'S DUBAI DUTY FREE IRISH DERBY TAKE CENTRE STAGE

At The Races and the Shanghai Race Club, Mainland China's legendary horseracing brand, confirmed today that they have partnered with the territory's leading online streaming platform, PPTV, to launch the first ever horseracing channel to be streamed live in China.

The racing channel named Pao Ma - from the sound of the Chinese characters meaning "horseracing" - officially launched live British racing on the 20th June with coverage of Royal Ascot's Gold Cup as the inaugural race.

This will be followed this Saturday with the official launch of live Irish racing. The Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby, to be run at The Curragh, will be the inaugural race.

More details on the channel can be found at www.paoma.com.

The new service is available on a free to register subscription basis to residents of Mainland China and the content has been tailored by ATR to the Chinese market as a live sports channel with all betting references removed.

ATR has also been asked by the Shanghai Race Club to source, on its behalf, other international horseracing content in due course.

The Shanghai Race Club, first established in 1862, is a private club for Mainland China's new and existing racehorse owners. The Club's services and technology makes it simpler for people in Mainland China to try, buy and manage a racehorse based in Great Britain or Ireland.  

Byron Constable, Chairman, Shanghai Race Club, said: "Now anyone in Mainland China can engage in the pleasure of watching the finest racehorses compete for some highly treasured trophies. 

"The audience we can reach in China will undoubtedly accelerate horseracing towards becoming the world's most watched sport and we are pleased that ATR's UK and Irish racecourse partners will be the immediate beneficiaries of the distribution platform we are opening up."

Matthew Imi, Chief Executive, At The Races, said: "We are delighted to have successfully launched our service with the Shanghai Race Club and PPTV, thereby making it available to a large and important market with significant potential for British and Irish racecourses, owners and breeders. 

"I am particularly pleased to have launched with such prestigious races as the Gold Cup and the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby and would like to congratulate both Ascot and the Curragh on being the first British and Irish racecourses respectively whose racing has been made available to the residents of Mainland China. 

"We very much look forward to extending our relationship with the Shanghai Race Club and are speaking now with our international colleagues with a view to introducing additional racing into the service."

Shanghai Race Club

The Shanghai Race Club, first established by the British in Shanghai during 1862, was the catalyst behind the first generation of famous racing names to emerge from Mainland China. The Club now supports a new generation of racehorse owners in their pursuit of the world's most coveted racing trophies.

With this spirit in mind The Club hosts trophy parties to celebrate "live" the winning of each of the world's 8 most sought after racing trophies. These private parties are held in the appointed club house, a heritage estate in downtown Shanghai built by Eric Moller - one of the earliest members of the Shanghai Race Club. Members are invited to attend the Club's trophy parties and meet other members of the racing society.

During the build up to each trophy party the Club circulates a professionally written column to all badge holders to ensure all those attending are suitably up to date on the excitement and tension mounting between the competing racehorse owners for the featured trophy.

For younger followers of racing The Club has created a unique luxury board game which lets players compete as a Shanghai Race Club owner members in 1934 for the highly prized Shanghai Cup racing trophy.

The Club has over 3,000 badge holders around the world and partnerships with Hurun rich list, The Nanjing Racecourse and The Nine Dragon Hills Racecourse - both racecourses are within 1.5 hours train/car ride from Shanghai. 

The Club facilitates introductions and discussions between Members, in particular members in Europe from the field of professional racing, and racehorse owners in Mainland China.

The Club also provides members with access to Paoma.com an online racehorse owners technology built by the Shanghai Race Club to make it easier for people based in Mainland China to try and buy racehorses based in Great Britain and Ireland stay up to date with the performance of their racehorses and watch them race.

At The Races

● At The Races is the UK and Ireland's most watched dedicated horseracing channel. It launched on June 11th 2004.

● It is a joint venture between BSkyB, Arena Racing Company and other racecourses.

● Broadcasting 24 hours a day, At The Races is currently available to over 13 million multi-channel homes across the UK and Ireland through Sky, Virgin Media and UPC.

● The channel regularly reaches over 2 million individuals monthly in UK and Ireland households with Irish viewing adding 20% to UK audiences (BARB & Nielsen).

● attheraces.com attracted an average audience of 1.66 million monthly unique users during the three months June-August 2012 with users spending on average over 25 minutes on the site each visit (Google Analytics).

● At The Races serves over 4 million video streams each month with instant race replays available free of charge on attheraces.com. 

● At The Races is distributed into 5,800 commercial premises by Sky.

● Outside the UK and Ireland, At The Races distributes its content into over 30 countries by means of GBI Racing, its joint venture operation with Racing UK.