ITV Racing

*ITV Racing*
ITV Racing
	World of Sport; Grandstand; Channel 4 Racing

ITV Racing is a programme produced by

World of Sport.^[1]

It started on 4 October 1969 when the programme began to show horse racing from two courses each week rather than one, under the title "They're Off". In 1972 it changed to The ITV Seven, reflecting the number of races it showed each week. The ITV Seven was also the title of an accumulator bet where vast sums of money could be won if you correctly predicted the winners of all seven races.

The feature was sometimes known (especially in later years) as the ITV Six, the ITV Five or even the ITV Four, if fewer races were being shown. On these occasions, the bet would be on the remaining televised races and would be comparatively simpler to win, however it was still fairly difficult to win with, on just one bet.

The weekly live coverage came from racecourses such as

Grandstand

.

When racing was impossible due to the weather, greyhound racing would often be shown instead (those were the days before all-weather horse racing).

In the 1980s ITV reduced its racing coverage, and often in the last years of World of Sport only one meeting would be shown. The last ITV Seven came from Kempton Park and Thirsk on 7 September 1985, three weeks before the last World of Sport, which only covered one meeting, at Redcar. ITV's midweek racing coverage had already been on Channel 4 since 22 March 1984; from 5 October 1985 the Saturday afternoon coverage also moved to the fourth channel, permanently becoming Channel 4 Racing, although it was reduced in scope considerably at the start of 1986, and would not become as extensive as it was in the ITV era until the late 1990s. For a few years ITV did continue to show The Derby, simulcasting Channel 4's coverage, but stopped doing so after the 1988 event.

2017-present

In January 2016, it was announced that ITV had regained horse racing rights from

Glorious Goodwood and British Champions Day, as well as regular Saturday meetings. ITV4 broadcasts The Opening Show, the morning preview programme similar to The Morning Line on Channel 4

, and many other Saturday meetings, as well as the occasional weekday and Sunday meeting, at courses all over the UK and Ireland.

Presenters

Over the years, the live coverage was presented by

Lord Oaksey (initially known on the programme as John Lawrence, and subsequently becoming John Oaksey after he succeeded to the peerage), and Derek Thompson and Jim McGrath (from 1981-1985). Race commentators were Tony Cooke and Bob Haynes (in the first couple of years), John Penney and Raleigh Gilbert

(the main commentators from 1972 to 1980) and Graham Goode (the main commentator from 1981). But on occasions when ITV showed Greyhound Racing from Harringay, Crayford and Wembley Gary Newbon was the presenter and Reg Gutteridge the race commentator

On air team

Years	Presenter	Current role
2017–present	Ed Chamberlin	Main presenter
2017–present	Francesca Cumani	Main presenter
2017–present	Oliver (Oli) Bell	The Opening Show, relief presenter, reporter
2017–present	Matthew (Matt) Chapman	Betting reporter
2017–present	Richard Hoiles	Main commentator
2017–present	Mark Johnson	Secondary commentator
2017–present	Stewart Machin	Tertiary commentator
2017–present	Mick Fitzgerald	Analyst, reporter
2017–present	Luke Harvey	Analyst, reporter
2017–present	Jason Weaver	Flat racing analyst
2017–present	Alice Plunkett	National Hunt reporter
2017–present	Sir AP McCoy	Analyst
2019–present	Ruby Walsh	Analyst
2017–present	Johnny Murtagh	Analyst
2017–present	Andrew Thornton	Analyst
2017–present	Hayley Turner	Analyst
1971–present	Brough Scott	Analyst
2020–present	Adele Mulrennan	Analyst
2021–present	Leonna Mayor	Analyst
2018–present	Kevin Blake	Analyst
2021–present	Megan Nicholls	Analyst
2017–present	Rishi Persad	Relief presenter, reporter
2020–present	Natalie Green	Race day presenter
2017–present	Brian Gleeson	Festival betting reporter
2017–present	Sally Ann Grassick	Reporter
2021–present	Ken Pitterson	Paddock Expert
2018–present	Chris Hughes	Social Stable reporter
2017–present	Gabriel Clarke	Features reporter
2017–present	Charlotte Hawkins	Lifestyle and fashion presenter
2017–present	Mark Heyes	Lifestyle and fashion presenter
2017–2018	Lucy Verasamy	Weather presenter
2017–2017	Victoria Pendleton	Analyst

References

^ Keough, Frank (2 January 2016). "ITV to replace Channel 4 as horse racing broadcaster from 2017". BBC Sport. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
^ Armytage, Marcus (1 January 2016). "ITV snatches racing rights from Channel 4". The Telegraph. Retrieved 17 January 2017.

External links

[1] Keough, Frank (2 January 2016). "ITV to replace Channel 4 as horse racing broadcaster from 2017". BBC Sport. Retrieved 17 January 2017.

[2] Armytage, Marcus (1 January 2016). "ITV snatches racing rights from Channel 4". The Telegraph. Retrieved 17 January 2017.

[1]