He presented the Randox Grand National to 7.5 million viewers on Saturday. Here are Ed Chamberlin's thoughts on a dramatic afternoon.
I love the Grand National more than any other sporting event. Yet even I found the first circuit difficult to watch on Saturday. Do I still love the Grand National? Yes I do. In a similar way to Mick Fitzgerald, who broke his neck in the race, who said on ITV on Saturday that he had no regrets and would do it all again.
The Grand National has elements of danger as do so many other sports. Like it or not, that is part of its appeal. It's the ultimate test. The difficulty now is that the world has changed. Even some hardened racing fans will have asked themselves questions about the National on Saturday evening. Unfortunately, social media fuels that with its "Outrage Olympics". These days you seem to have to love something or hate it. There’s no middle ground. Why have reasonable, sensible opinions gone so out of fashion?
The doyenne of Grand National presenters, Des Lynam, always talks about the unpredictably of hosting live sporting events. He had to smoothly steer viewers through a bomb scare and the race that never was. I was prepared for most eventualities on Saturday but here was yet another unpredictable, rapidly moving situation.
I have nothing against a peaceful protest. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but when the Animal Rising group took it further and started to clash with police, that was unacceptable. Racing's response needs to be calm and measured.
My message to those on the opposing side of the racing fence is this: a racehorse is not a pet.
Thoroughbreds never have been. Letting them run wild in fields would be totally unrealistic. If a stable handed a thoroughbred over for a week I would imagine any animal rights protestor would return it very quickly. They need professional handling, training, feeding and care.
Without racing and races like the Grand National you do not have the thoroughbred.
These horses are born and bred to race. They love running and jumping as that is what they’re bred to do. No racing would mean no more of these majestic animals. Who on earth wants that?
For example, the shirehorse used to be part of every community – but now the breed is very rare.
Every day a horse meets risk. Half a tonne of animal on delicate legs is always going to be in danger. Lucinda Russell makes no secret of the fact that she feels thoroughbreds are "safest on a racecourse" doing what they love in the best prepared environment.
Horse racing is a wonderful sport but will always have a trap door to despair. Our responsibility is to communicate well and make it as safe as possible and the BHA and racing authorities have done a great job reducing fatal injuries by 33% over the last 20 years with a fatal injury rate of 0.21% from 20,000 individual horses each year and around 90,000 runners. Everything will be done to continue that trend.
That is what I believe. However, I also believe, we in racing need to listen, understand and engage. Times have changed, attitudes have changed and the social license has changed.
The Grand National has done so well to adapt and move with those times and the event is still popular with the majority of the public, shown by the 70,000 crowd and it being ITV’s most watched sport event of the year, but more clearly needs to be done.
I doubt we’ll ever win over groups like Animal Rising, but ‘floating voters’ and doubters can be reassured. We always try on ITV to constantly highlight the care the horses receive at home, but we need to engage more on an ongoing basis and by supporting initiatives like National Racehorse Week every September.
Much has been written about how ITV covered the event on Saturday, some good, some less so. The one message that meant the world to me was from Des Lynam saying we’d done a good job.
As Alan Tyers said in the Daily Telegraph on Monday morning, we were in a no-win situation and I felt a great responsibility as it was unfolding to cover the events in an accurate and professional way, despite emotions running very high on the podium and around the racecourse.
At around 4.54pm, it became obvious that a sports story was turning into a news story and whilst starting the day not wanting to give the protestors any of the attention they craved, we were left with little choice by 5pm.
The Merseyside police and Aintree team did well to keep the public informed and then clear the racecourse.
Things needed to move fast as the atmosphere was quickly changing from a giant party and celebration to being a tense, frustrated cauldron. The delay meant some of the horses were on edge, the crowd getting frustrated, particularly down by the first fence as Luke Harvey reported. It felt uncomfortable. You could sense it was almost boiling over and unfortunately that was reflected in the race itself.
My heart goes out to Jimmy Fyffe, Sandy Thompson and everyone involved with Hill Sixteen. I admit to fearing the worst after his fall but will never put information in the public domain on national television until all the connections have been made aware and the news has been relaid to me by the authorities. We did not receive official confirmation until we were off air on Saturday. The authorities have a plan in place which we must adhere to.
The race itself had the perfect winner. A well backed Scottish favourite. A syndicate from all walks of life who’d paid very little to live the ultimate racing dream. A popular, charismatic training duo of Lucinda Russell and Peter Scudamore who so obviously love their horses. A horse in Corach Rambler who absolutely relishes his job. Precisely what the protestors wouldn’t have wanted.
I finished the broadcast with a deep sigh and a line saying it was a race they’d tried to stop but no one can stop Lucinda and Scu in the Grand National.
I left Aintree feeling drained and upset.
Another dramatic, controversial chapter in this great race's history.
More from Sporting Life
Safer gambling
We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.
If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.
Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org
