A decision by the competition watchdog, which found that the Racecourse Association had breached competition rules when it sold audio-visual rights at dozens of racecourses to a consortium backed by British Sky Broadcasting and Channel 4, has been overturned on appeal.

It is the first time that an infringement ruling by the Office of Fair Trading has been reversed by the Competition Appeal Tribunal, the body set up to scrutinise the regulator's decisions under the Enterprise Act.