Ed Chamberlin reflects on the 2019 Cheltenham Festival
Our columnist reflects on a week of unbelievable highs and lows at Cheltenham, good news on the TV viewing figures and what we can do moving forward as a sport.
The Cheltenham Festival of 2019 had the lot. It took us on a journey of highs, lows, heartbreak, despair, joy and incredibly heartwarming moments.
If I’m honest, Tuesday was flat. The Sky Bet Supreme did have a wonderful story though. The race was won by Klassical Dream and his owner Joanne Coleman had everyone in tears having lost her husband, John, in the summer.
It was his dream to have a winner at the Cheltenham Festival, so much so she had his ashes in her handbag.
It was a tremendously poignant way to launch he week.
"John's ashes are in my handbag. He's not missed one for 20 years, so we brought him"
— ITV Racing (@itvracing) March 12, 2019
There wasn't a dry eye in the house as Joanne Coleman spoke about her late husband John, who passed away in July having never fulfilled his dream of having a runner at @CheltenhamRaces pic.twitter.com/IIJWSDvhgn
The Unibet Champion Hurdle wasn’t the race we’d built up – for all Espoir D’Allen’s brilliance in winning it. It felt like an anticlimax. We lost Buveur D’Air early in the piece, although it was wonderful to see the champion (admittedly without a jockey) guiding the heir to his throne past the post.
Apple’s Jade didn’t perform on the day, and that can’t have been the real Laurina.
The mood at ITV HQ on Tuesday evening was very low. There was the controversy over the National Hunt Chase and forecast high winds looked set to put pay to Wednesday. Then at the breakfast table we got the green light for racing – and the week took off.
I’d never known Sir Anthony McCoy as quiet as he was that morning but we hatched a plan together for him to have his say on the stewards’ findings from the previous day’s finale. What he said in such a passionate fashion got the sport talking and his telephone was red-hot with support from across the industry.
😤 There were strong words for the BHA from @AP_McCoy yesterday
— ITV Racing (@itvracing) March 14, 2019
Join us for #TheOpeningShow for more lively debate and discussion ahead of Day Three of the #CheltenhamFestival
LIVE from @CheltenhamRaces from 9.30AM on @ITV4 pic.twitter.com/1dorp6mY6K
I felt the need to play devil’s advocate because the BHA are in a very difficult position. I have huge admiration for Nick Rust and he has the unenviable task of finding the right balance between competition and welfare.
It was a brilliant piece of punditry from AP. In my time on Sky Sports Football, working with the likes of Graeme Souness, Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher, clashes with authorities seemed to happen every week.
They don’t in racing but I do hope this flash-point helps enhance the need for consultation in our sport and the fact we must get on the front foot in promoting the positive aspects of it.
The Cheltenham Festival – and National Hunt racing – are things we should be very proud of. This year we saw record crowds, record betting turnover and fantastic viewing figures across the board.
The RSA was the finish of the week and it’s not difficult to see the three main protagonists - Topofthegame, Santini and Delta Work - developing into serious Magners Cheltenham Gold Cup contenders next season.
After the preparation he’d had, and losing a shoe in the race, I still think Santini can emerge as the best of the trio although Paul Barber may well disagree. His celebrations in the winners’ enclosure was one of my moments of the week.
The sport needed Altior to win the Betway Queen Mother Champion Chase but I distinctly remember saying on the ITV podium "I think he’s beat" as Sceau Royal crept up his inside after the second last fence. But AP never had a moment’s doubt – even when he was headed.
It reminded me of Gary Neville at the Etihad in 2012 when he never doubted that Manchester City would pull it out of the bag against QPR just as his former club began to prepare their own title celebrations at Sunderland.
The unique sporting amphitheatre that is the Cheltenham winners’ enclosure was buzzing like I’ve never experienced before during my time with ITV as Altior returned. Little did we know we still had Tiger Roll to come...and then Thursday took the week to a whole new level.
That Aguueerroooo goal remains my favourite moment working in television but the golden hour on Thursday was the best 60 minutes of sport I’ve been involved in.
I’ve been championing Bryony Frost since taking the role on ITV as she’s always been gold dust for the sport. Inevitably I took some stick on social media for the praise I gave her after Frodon’s win, but if you’re a lover of racing, you should embrace her. She has the ability to lift the sport out to new levels and become jump racing's latest household name.
The front page of Friday’s Times newspaper wasn’t a bad start.
"He's Pegasus! He has got wings! He's the most incredible battler!"
— ITV Racing (@itvracing) March 18, 2019
What a moment for Bryony Frost, achieving dreams at the #CheltenhamFestival pic.twitter.com/S6GxKNDGEJ
In amongst the drama of that spell on Thursday I think I produced my worst stint of presenting during our over two year run on ITV. I got credit in one newspaper for not speaking after Paisley Park had won the Sun Racing Stayers’ Hurdle and for letting the pictures breathe.
The truth is I had such a big lump in my throat, I wasn’t able to speak.
As typified the emotional rollercoaster of the week, the gamble on Sir Erec and that amazing footage down at the start before the JCB Triumph Hurdle with Luke Harvey, took him to the heart of so many viewers. What happened thereafter broke your heart and was very hard to broadcast.
Willie Mullins reaching his holy grail and Paul Townend exorcising his Punchestown demons were the memorable elements of Al Boum Photo's win in the Magners Cheltenham Gold Cup victory.
Overall, I’ll remember the 2019 Festival as being four days when the ‘Cheltenham love’ was shared. Small stables, unsung jockeys and previously unheralded owners all had their day in the sun.
That was summed up by Hazel Hill winning the St. James's Place Foxhunters for trainer Philip Rowley and jockey Alex Edwards. No disrespect to Paul Nicholls or the other leading trainers who have had runners in this, but it was nice to see the prize going to proper point-to-point people.
A lot has been written about the ITV viewing figures for the week and these are another good news story for our sport. When we took over the contract in 2017 the microscope was always going to be on us at meetings like this.
The overall average viewing figure for the 2019 Festival was 993k compared to 836k in 2018 (an 18.8% year on year increase) and 860k in 2017. The average daily peak was 1413k compared to 1189k in 2018 (an 18% year on year increase) and 1248K in 2017.
On Gold Cup day we had a peak audience of 1653K and a 17% audience share - up from 1526K in 2018. The average viewing figure on Friday was 1159K, the highest average for Gold Cup day since records began in 2003.
Tuesday’s average figure of 982K was again the highest since records started. It’s all very, very encouraging but we know there is a still a lot of work to be done and we won’t ever stand still.
But even more satisfactory for me was the team heading en-masse to Uttoxeter on Friday evening and getting such a warm welcome from David MacDonald, Hayley Plimley and the rest of the team at the track. It won’t get any headlines but 675,000 people watched the Marston's 61 Deep Midlands Grand National. This is a sport people love.
This weekend we all head up to Kelso for Saturday’s show. While the Cheltenham Festival puts the team in the spotlight, it’s days like these and wonderful tracks like Kelso that make every programme so different, enjoyable and satisfying.
It’s why I love doing the job I do.
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