Ed Chamberlin column: Cheltenham Festival reflections

"National Hunt racing is a sport moving ever closer to extinction", wrote Matthew Syed in The Times the week before Cheltenham.

On Friday the same sport was being hailed as a joy with Rachel Blackmore all over the news, plus record viewing figures on ITV.

What a difference a week makes.

Monday

The build-up to the Festival was difficult. A potential tonic to start the week didn't happen when I missed out on Sports Broadcaster of the Year at the SJA Awards, though my former Sporting Life colleague Laura Woods is a worthy winner and one of life's great people.

I did umpteen interviews that day for television, radio and newspapers yet barely mentioned a horse running at the Festival. Every question was about last year’s meeting and horse welfare. Each time I managed to squeeze in my hope that Rachael Blackmore would have one winner to help change the narrative, ideally on Honeysuckle in the Champion Hurdle. However, the whole experience was a stark reminder of the wider media’s perceived views of the Cheltenham Festival.

Tuesday

After a sleepless night I approached the show with trepidation. We hadn’t done an outside broadcast since December 27 at Kempton. Having worked remotely for three months, presenting that day was like batting in a Lord’s Test match without a single warm-up game. A lot could have gone better and we wrestled with Covid restrictions on the movement of camera and the resulting difficulty of showcasing horses.

Editorially we had taken the decision to confront the issue of whether the Festival should have taken place last year head on. Having had first hand experience the day before of the news agenda being pedalled it would be remain the elephant in the room for the whole week if it was not addressed in a balanced manner right at the outset.

For the core audience this understandably jarred, and there was the usual knee-jerk reaction on social media with fierce competition in the outrage Olympics, but for the near 800k extra viewers a mainstream ITV day attracts it was important that the issues I had witnessed first hand the previous day were not ignored.

At ITV we wish to showcase the sport to the best of our ability but that does not mean acting as cheerleaders. It was seven minutes out of 14 hours worth of broadcasting and by getting it out of the way early, the stage was cleared for the action on the track.

What we got was beyond my wildest dreams. Shishkin dazzled, followed by Trevor Hemmings’ grey Vintage Clouds warming our hearts winning the Ultima at the fifth attempt. As Richard Hoiles said on commentary "try, try, try, try, try again".

Then Rachael Blackmore and Honeysuckle rode to racing's rescue. This is a combination that can resonate far beyond racing. Gold dust for the sport. Suddenly the headlines had taken a quantum leap forward in the space of 24 hours. The power of sport.

Wednesday

With help from the BHA, our priority was to rearrange cameras to show more horses in the paddock and also the "Irish corner", which was rapidly becoming a big part of the Festival. They were cheering every winner, British or Irish, and bringing life to a ghost town. Racing secretaries, HRI, Barbara White, Jennifers Pugh and Walsh deserve enormous credit for getting everyone there and likewise Cheltenham for looking after them so well.

To then hear they'd teamed up to donate €25,000 to WellChild melted my heart. While the Cheltenham team had "dressed" the track brilliantly our team behind the scenes had worked hard to ensure cameras saw as few empty stands as possible.

I regretted the way I presented Derby Day and was aware a desolate, empty racecourse was a miserable experience to broadcast from but looks totally different at home. We invested in the new ‘Robycam’ over the paddock which you’d normally see at SuperBowls and World Cup finals. The shots were a joy for any presenter, while the new, augmented graphics gave the coverage another big lift.

On the track the great stories just kept on coming. Rachael and Bon Olinger bolted up, Monkfish won despite some hairy moments while Richie Condon and Paul Hennessy somehow lit up the racecourse with a 33/1 winner. Raw emotion and the charm of the underdog that makes Cheltenham so special. The image of Paul leading up Heaven Help Us in one hand and holding the Coral Cup in the other, was one of the images of the week.

Put The Kettle On then won a dramatic Champion Chase. There was much debate about the interference turning for home. Was it race defining or a storm in a tea cup? One thing for sure Aidan Coleman did the sport a great turn with his words to Matt Chapman after the race about the love of the horse. He’s a fine ambassador for racing.

Then Tiger Roll took to the stage and ITV’s presenter lost the plot. What a little hero he is.

Thursday

This was one of my favourite broadcasts that I’ve ever been involved in. Everything seemed to work. We’d themed each day to show support for the local community, the Irish on St Patrick’s Day and key workers. Thursday was all about the Racing Family and the heroes and heroines from the last 12 months. The messaging was incredibly powerful.

Allaho’s demolition job in the Ryanair blew everyone away. It was time for Ross to move aside and another episode of new ‘Friends’ Matt and Rachael. She was rapidly becoming a sporting hero, rather than just a racing one. Our Social Stable was being overwhelmed with videos of kids pretending to be Rachael Blackmore. It had a staggering 87 million interactions over the four days but my favourite interaction was Chris and Oli’s interview with her proud mum, Eimir.

The Stayers Hurdle belonged to Danny Mullins. The man Ruby Walsh described one of racing’s great grafters who had hit the bar at Cheltenham so many times, including when beaten by his mother’s horse in the Albert Bartlett. The outpouring of joy when he finally landed his first Cheltenham Festival winner contrasted to the despair for Jonathan Moore, Flooring Porter’s regular partner. Ruby explained how he’d stood himself down in the middle of the track that morning as his sore back meant he felt he couldn’t do the horse justice. The way he spoke afterwards and the class he showed, will stand Jonathan in good stead.

The day was far from over as The Shunter landed the £100,000 bonus and his groom, Mick Molloy, took over the show. Grooms are a huge part of what we do on ITV and Mick showcased the joy horses bring and the thrill of a winner. I hope he gets the percentage of the bonus he requested!

There was still time for more Rachael winning on Tellmesomethinggirl and once again making it look brilliantly simple. Antony used the Johan Cruyff quote, "Playing football is very simple, but playing simple football is the hardest thing there is” to explain just how good she is. When I said telmesomethingboys: is she the best rider in the weighing room? Ruby and AP’s quotes went viral immediately. We were witnessing something very special.

Henry de Bromhead’s mare completed an 800/1 treble for Kevin Blake’s selections on the show, rounding off an extraordinary, uplifting day. For once a relief the bars were closed, with Gold Cup day looming.

Friday

What an emotive day this was. To see WellChild’s name in lights in front of ‘Cheltenham Gold Cup’ was utterly surreal. WellChild is a small charity in Cheltenham that nurses seriously ill children at their homes. It means the world to me and I hope the wonderful nurses and families enjoyed the day. This was an inspired move by the Jockey Club.

The Gold Cup itself summed up the week’s racing. Total Irish domination. Cheltenham’s holy trinity of Champion Hurdle, Champion Chase and Gold Cup for Henry de Bromhead. Four broken legs and a Gold Cup by the age of 22 for Jack Kennedy. Plenty of soul searching for British trainers. Again, no need for knee jerk reaction and sport does go in cycles.

After all, Real Madrid and Barcelona were unbeatable only a few years ago. There’s a clear need for a root and branch investigation of jumps racing in this country by far better brains than mine. Yet another issue to add to the financial crisis et al. Tough times ahead. I’m sure the British trainers will bounce back but there are no short term fixes.

Now we can look forward to the Randox Grand National meeting at Aintree with a spring in our step rather than trepidation.

What a week that was.

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