New look for punters as Trackside gets relaunched

Stephen Hunt (TAB bookmaker) along with presenters Bevan Sweeney and Brendan Popplewell as part of Trackside coverage.

Racing fans are set for improved racing coverage as the new bosses of the TAB relaunch Trackside TV with a taste of back to the future.

The relaunch will see a return of live racing to Freeview (Channels 23 and 24) so punters or racing fans who don’t have Sky can watch racing and Trackside’s new and established shows.

The return to Freeview will come as Trackside’s official rebranding is rolled out this week, with new graphics and a heavy emphasis on seeing more of the horses and dogs.

The Herald understands the new dividends display will have a renewed focus on fixed odds betting which now dwarfs tote betting for most meetings and is therefore a far more accurate guide of the market.

It will be the first freshen-up of Trackside, which will have the “TAB” dropped from its name, since 2014 and will be the next step in Entain’s revitalisation of New Zealand racing.

Trackside TV is how most New Zealanders watch racing, with the television audience almost always larger than the live one.

But the channels suffered major budget cuts when the Covid pandemic slammed the brakes on New Zealand racing four years ago.

While the Trackside staff did remarkably well to keep it on air, sometimes running two entire channels remotely from home, one of the biggest differences post-Covid was the far smaller numbers of meetings with presenters on track to provide crucial punting information and tell racing’s stories.

That eventually proved unpopular with code bosses and punters, as they ended up with more in-depth coverage of Australian and Hong Kong racing than the local industry.

The new bosses of the TAB, Entain, came to New Zealand with a great reputation for producing “content” and storytelling, and that philosophy has already seen a huge boost in local racing coverage, especailly at big bang events like The Everest, New Zealand Cup week and Karaka Millions.

In all three instances, the increased presence of on-track presenters and preview shows has led to a marked increase in turnover.

To that end, Entain will be boosting its on-track presenters even more to include every Saturday through winter and then further again in the new season, including the Thursday and Friday night slots so crucial for the harness racing and greyhound codes.

Those two nights and the all-important Saturday racing will get bigger and better coverage, while all three New Zealand codes will be shown on the same channel on Sundays, removing the need to switch channels to watch domestic racing.

Entain chief media officer Christopher Haigh said racing fans can expect enhanced coverage of all three racing codes.

“We’ve made a complete change to the look and feel for Trackside 1, Trackside 2 and Trackside Premier,” Haigh said.

“These are the first major changes to Trackside’s look and feel since 2014, and we’re putting the racing animal at the front and centre of these changes.

“Our new look has more space for live racing vision to be displayed, alongside providing viewers with more of the key betting information they need.”

All Trackside coverage is still able to be streamed online via the TAB website for account holders.

Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.