ITV racing host Ed Chamberlin reflects upon his week at Royal Ascot

It’s been a brutal few weeks for many in this country. At times, horse racing has seemed like a total irrelevance. Happily, Her Majesty The Queen’s infectious smile and the five fabulous days of pageantry, fashion and world-class racing gave us all an escape and so much to celebrate.

From a personal point of view I loved it. I'd only been to Royal Ascot a handful of times before Tuesday so you can understand my nerves ahead of presenting the Queen Anne, let alone voicing a Royal Procession.

I therefore took a leaf out of Sir Alex Ferguson and Sir Clive Woodward’s coaching manual and surrounded myself with brilliant people. Royal commentator Katie Nicholl plus Charlotte Hawkins and Mark Heyes were a joy to work with and incredibly helpful.

Predictably there was negativity from a few within racing about the fashion slots but they need to understand that the secret to Royal Ascot is it offering something for everybody and plenty of people tune in purely for the pomp, ceremony and fashion. My only disappointment was losing the ITV Next Top Model presenters’ fashion parade. Oli Bell won the prize to crown the most sensational week for the Bell family. Oli chatting with The Queen was one of the highlights of the week.

The feedback to ITV’s coverage has been overwhelming. It's still only six months in to a long journey and there is so much I, and we, can improve upon but it's good to know lots of people liked what we did last week.

Our aim at the start was to make people watching at home feel as though they were part of the event and with the presentation position in the paddock, a new wire camera over the paddock and for the first time cameras in the Royal Household section of the grandstand, I hope we were able to do that. That was all a year in the making and our director Paul McNamara was the brains and vision behind it. We also need to thank the Ascot hierarchy of Guy Henderson, Juliet Slot and Nick Smith for buying into that vision and helping to make it happen.

My favourite parts of the show were the early exchanges between Matt Chapman and Brian Gleeson plus Luke Harvey down at the start - resplendent in his tailcoat and trainers - was able to bring us dramatic shots of horses misbehaving, Caravaggio rearing in the stalls and educate us about farriers, starters and stall handlers. Luke and his cameraman were isolated down at the start, barely saw a face, race or finish all week and only returned to civilisation for the Queen's Vase start in front of the stands. They were superb.

Other ITV heroes were the cameramen who lugged round machinery in 35C heat and the team down in the trucks, three furlongs from the glitz and glamour of the paddock, who made it all happen. Richard Willoughby, Paul Cooper, Tim Williams and the editorial team plus Amy Lewin and her logistical team. Our vision mixer Marcus and Toddy in VT are the best in the business.

However, let's make no mistake, the real heroes were on the track. As has always been our ethos on ITV, the stable staff deserve so much credit as without them there would be no sport. I loved seeing Taffy’s emotion when Big Orange won the Gold Cup and Godolphin’s Wayne kissing the camera a la Steven Gerrard.

It was a week for the warriors. Highland Reel has now won nearly £6million in three different continents and was incredibly tough battling back to win the Prince Of Wales’ Stakes, while I loved Oriental Fox’s tenacity that appropriately rounded off the meeting. 

Big Orange was the headline act and Order Of St George was equally brave in nearly reeling him in. A race to remember. Sport is all about rivalries and I can't wait for the re-match at Goodwood.

Royal Ascot has thrown up plenty of potential classics for the rest of the season too. Ribchester, Churchill, Barney Roy and Winter could all claim the miling crown. Best of all could be a tear-up in the Darley July Cup between the three-year-olds Caravaggio, Harry Angel and Blue Point and the older sprinters The Tin Man, Tasleet and Limato. What a race that would be.

I have been saying for months that Caravaggio is a monster and although not as visually impressive as I'd hoped, he's probably still learning the sprinting game and I remain convinced he's special. Mirage Dancer is another I will be keeping faith with as he will win a big one down the line. Tasleet was the one that got away from the best bets last week but I was still thrilled to win the Sky Bet Celebrity tipping contest and a generous £1000 donation to my beloved Well Child Charity.

It was a wonderful five days and an honour to present it alongside Francesca Cumani, the hardest working presenter I have met. Royal Ascot is special and I just hope the new viewers who enjoyed it last week stick with this great sport. See you at Newcastle on Saturday for Northumberland Plate day!