From Del Mar to Cheltenham, it was some week for Ed Chamberlin and he reflects on the action and lessons learned at both venues.
The best thing about my job is its variety. Every week, every track, every card is different. There’s been no more a different week in my time with ITV than the last few days which has seen us broadcasting from California and Cheltenham. Both have been an absolute honour and privilege.
The two best things about showing the Breeders’ Cup on ITV were showcasing horse racing to a Saturday night audience, plenty of whom had probably never watched it before, let alone American racing complete with all the razzamatazz of the biggest weekend in their sport.
Secondly, being over there in California opened the door to speak to directors and editors from various US television channels, notably TVG and NBC. Life is about learning and I enjoyed discussing our ethos on what makes good television.
Most of those I spoke to agreed that ‘knowing your audience’ is key and the dangers these days of being suckered into broadcasting to social media.
However, most interesting to me was how they work as a team and move so fast around their broadcasters. It sweeps the viewer along on a compelling journey, which is so important in an age of impatience and with so many other demands and competition for time. With top operators like Nick Luck and Rishi Persad on board, you sense they’re encouraged not to waste a word and when you get the ‘ball’, you don’t keep it too long and score goals.
We tried to do similar at Cheltenham over the three days by passing the ball from the paddock, to the start, to the Social Stable and back to the podium. We experimented with other elements too like Ruby Walsh’s analysis hub and using him as a co-commentator alongside Richard Hoiles. It was like the old days for me throwing to a commentary team on a Super Sunday and will be interesting to hear what viewers made of it all.
As has been well documented, television audiences have suffered across the board since the lifting of lockdown. It's totally understandable really and who can blame people for wanting to get out and about? Racing audiences have dipped too so it was reassuring to have much better numbers over the weekend.
The popularity of jump racing never ceases to amaze and delight in equal measure. Saturday saw 34,000 people making their beloved annual pilgrimage to Cheltenham - that’s a similar crowd to Del Mar!
Our audience share (9.4%) was even higher than during lockdown last year (8.3%) and in total nearly two million people watched racing on ITV over the three days of the November Meeting. On and off the track, this weekend certainly proved that jump racing retains its huge popularity.
We always want to encourage people to come racing and I’m a big supporter of Sunday’s ‘Family Fun Day’, which this year saw youngsters galore at the races. All looked to be having a brilliant time with Cheltenham laying on a load of activities.
Amongst the fun and games, Sir Anthony McCoy and I were asked to meet a bride and groom in their full regalia, while we also had an on-air marriage proposal in the betting ring. I think I detected a tear in Chris Hughes’ eye. It was a wonderful moment.
I was actually wary going into the weekend that good ground, small fields, and the bad PR the sport has had, including the drug raid at Monasterevin in Ireland which was the subject of more newspaper coverage on Sunday, would have a negative effect. How wrong I was.
We’d actually tried to move the start time of the two-runner novice chase on Friday, which wasn’t possible this time, although with My Drogo in the field we always wanted to show it.
I doubt we’ll see an incident like that for another 30 years and yet again it showed the incredible skill levels of Rachael Blackmore plus the importance for us to show a terrestrial audience that both horses were fit and well the next morning.
The Skeltons helped us out with videos of My Drogo on social media. They are a mighty impressive outfit these days with their passion and openness, plus suddenly they have a raft of Saturday horses to go to war with.
There was a sweet moment for jump racing in the north too with Midnight Shadow snaring a deserved big Cheltenham pot for the Sue Smith team, hot on the heels of the same yard's win in the Ultima in March with Vintage Clouds.
The main narrative next year will be whether the Brits can fight back against the Irish at that showpiece. This weekend gave some encouragement for the home team with the performances of the likes of Third Time Lucki and Nube Negra. The latter was probably my highlight of the weekend. Owner Terry Spraggett, who must be at least 6ft 4in tall, shouted across at us “that’s one for the small guys”.
Another reason why so many people love the jumps.
