And he called on Racing TV to establish a second channel to show meetings in this country.

O’Leary was furious at the broadcaster’s failure to show the mares’ bumper at Gowran, despite many subscribers paying €31 a month for the channel. A high-class beginners’ chase was joined halfway through and a split-screen was in use for the Grade 2 Red Mills Chase won by Monalee.

O’Leary told racingpost.com/sport: “I usually go racing myself but I couldn’t on Saturday so was relying on Racing TV. I was shocked at the coverage. It was terrible, a disgrace. There was a high-class beginners’ chase I was looking forward to seeing. I waited and waited and waited for it, and presumed there was a delay at the start, but the race was half-over by the time they decided to show it.”

He added: “As for the bumper, they didn’t bother showing that at all. Instead, the result flashes across the screen. I was at Navan (on Sunday) and it was all anyone could talk about. Irish racing is being treated like a second-rate citizen and it is not good enough.

“We were the anchor tenants on At The Races and now look at us. From what I’ve seen of Racing TV so far, it’s like sitting in a betting shop. They go from race to race to another race. It’s boring. What is the point in having great presenters like Gary O’Brien, Kevin O’Ryan, Kate Harrington and Donn McClean when we never hear from them? There are no stories being told anymore. We’re going to drive everyone away from Irish racing instead of attracting new people. It can’t continue like this. We need to insist on a second channel for Racing TV to show Irish racing. That simply must happen.”

A Racecourse Media Group spokesperson said that Saturday’s coverage was a challenge ‘due to the extra races run as a knock-on effect of equine flu’ “Saturday was an action-packed day with four afternoon fixtures – including a nine-race card, two eight-race cards and a seven-race card – and an eight-race twilight card. The afternoon fixtures ended up overlapping with the twilight fixture due to the extra races run as a knock-on effect of equine flu. As it turned out, we showed the finishes from 39 of the 40 races across the five fixtures, with the unfortunate exception of the final race from Gowran Park. We usually adopt a common-sense approach to when there are clashes, but at one point we had four races in 15 minutes, which is far from ideal. Racing TV members can access a racecourse-dedicated feed via Racing TV Extra, available on the website and apps, when the schedule becomes congested like this, but we accept that not everyone has access.”