Champions: Full Gallop - Season Two Premiere

You quickly get a clue over which episode they’re showing.

Patrick Mullins is in attendance and the centre of attention. He’s undertaking interviews by the red carpet, the red carpet for which they check your name on arrival.

If you’re an A-Lister then you waltz down it, get snapped by the snappers and have the opportunity to hit the Gram yourself with selfies and the like.

If you’re not, you’re escorted to the far corner of the room where you walk around to the bar area without causing the merest of stirs.

To be fair I managed to, having been handed a glass of champagne that started life in the hand of Ed Chamberlin and was passed on to my good self via its second owner, still untouched.

I already had a beer in the other hand and the bar man observed: “Champagne starter, classy”.

You know what, I don’t think he really meant it. But I do mean it when I say there was a lot to like about the episode we saw.

It obviously told the tale of Nick Rockett’s National, the father and son angle, the heartbreaking story of Sadie Andrew, the late wife of the horse’s owner, Stewart. She knew Willie from their schooldays but passed away following a fight with cancer just after the horse’s first run.

It was a truly remarkable National. And there were other angles, too.

Horantzau D'Airy joining Newmarket trainer Michael Keady, who at the time hadn’t saddled a single jumps winner. The horse has a lung infection but we’re there with him as the camp grow in confidence that he’s going to get there after schooling over a specially constructed Aintree-style fence on the gallops in Flat Headquarters.

Nicky Henderson has never won a National. You did know that? And there’s a brilliant cameo appearance or two from him alongside Dan Skelton, who was watching the action unfold by the parade ring cheering home anything not trained in Closutton or Ditcheat.

But if Harry Cobden was the break-out star from the first series, his boss will be this time around.

Paul Nicholls is magnificent as he ponders the chances of his five horses, the loss of jockey Johnny Burke to team Mullins after he’d committed to ride Stay Away Fay, and reacts to Ruby Walsh's feedback before the tapes go up.

And it’s these characters that bring the sport alive through this episode. There’s genuine rivalry here, a real desire to succeed.

They’re captains of big teams and want to be the biggest. Three people who at 4pm on Saturday April 13th felt they could be champion trainer – and one who knew he couldn’t but was determined to enjoy the day, nonetheless.

All are unique characters, obviously, and you get a greater sense of that as the action does a lot more of the talking this time around.

And South Shore, the Production Company, feel more confident too. They have the right footage, with the right people, filmed at the right time.

The race coverage itself is captivating even for those of us who know how the story ends.

It was all very encouraging. As I retired to polish off a plate of canapes and digest the action, Skelton is a few feet in front of me, enthusing over the quality of the programme – “and that’s from someone who shouldn’t really enjoy the episode!” he smiled.

The only regret was no-one had the recording of the phone conversation that took place between Nicholls and Burke’s agent Gordon Clarkson who drew the shortest of short straws when it came to informing the trainer of the rider’s change of heart.

ITV is free-to-air of course, but you’d pay any subscription fee to huddle down on a winter’s night and listen to that particular interaction over and over again.

We don’t know if there will be a third series, Flutter is unable to commit to it given the uncertainty over what will happen to taxes on bookmakers in the November budget.

On stage though the key speechmakers, including Flutter Chief Executive for UK & Ireland, Kevin Harrington, stressed the need for the gambling industry and racing to continue to work together.

Jockey Club Chief Executive Jim Mullen said: "Now isn't the time for public spats. We may be under attack and we need to negotiate hard with our stakeholders. I'm sure that my team and Kevin's team will be fighting in a room, but those fights should remain in the room because unity is our strength.

"Those who divide us misunderstand what drives our sport. It's not commerce, it's the love for the game."

That was something Masked Singer host Joel Dommett said he found after watching the first series upon confirmation that he had landed the Thursday gig.

He seemed genuine too, albeit in front of his paymasters for the night. But his cousin is engaged to Cobden and there’s a link there too.

Now if series two does indeed lift off, Nicholls dressed as a giant raging bull singing My Way on a TV screen near you might not be as far-fetched as it seems right now.

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