No roar, so ITV focuses on Cheltenham in the raw
Lack of crowd at the Festival forces broadcaster to innovate Horses will notice difference as well, claims Fitzgerald
Weird. That is the word Mick Fitzgerald settled on when asked what it would be like covering Cheltenham for ITV this year. And ITV Racing’s director Paul Mcnamara explained why: “Cheltenham more than any other racing event is synonymous with the crowd.”
This week, we will have horses, trainers, triumph and disaster, some glory and, let us hope, not too much despair. Money will be won and lost, reputations will be burnished, legends may even be made. But whatever happens, it will all take place in front of empty stands, and one phrase keeps getting mentioned wistfully, “the Cheltenham roar”. Its absence will be felt by human and horse alike.
“The Cheltenham roar, that is a real thing,” Fitzgerald said. “If you’ve got a horse in the second race, say, they can hear that when they are in the pre-parade ring. They hear it all over the course, the horses feel the noise, the energy.
“Like the jockeys, some grow in that big-occasion environment, and some just shrink. I’ve had it riding some horses there, they just melt between your fingers like ice in a sauna and it is a horrible feeling.
Some never deliver what they are capable of. But this year that’s not going to be a factor. Take a horse like Shishkin, he is quite a busy horse, he is on his toes. He isn’t going to be anywhere near as fazed. There will be a few trainers up and down the country and in Ireland who are thinking, ‘This is happy days, we don’t have to worry about how our horse is going to cope’.”
The ITV broadcasters, on the other hand, have got a few headaches: how do you create atmosphere at an empty track? The programme’s editor, Richard Willoughby, said: “In a normal year, there is so much going on, but this year we have to look outside the course for colour: bring people in at home. At Cheltenham, every race is a cup final, that moment of crossing the line to them dismounting, that’s about seven minutes of joyous scenes. That is something about Cheltenham you don’t really get anywhere else.”
Mcnamara had been deliberating whether to add a noise track of a crowd over the pictures. “I think we will for the roar for the first race,” he said. “People want to hear that. But I don’t know about having crowd noise throughout the racing.”
Something that ITV has done very well with racing is bringing in different elements for different tastes: having Oli Bell and Love Island alumnus Chris Hughes doing chatty social-media stuff and vox pops; Matt Chapman on the blokey betting angle; fashion from Charlotte Hawkins and Mark Heyes.
Mcnamara acknowledges that this year ITV will “have to generate pace and energy in a sterile environment”, but says that the coverage can look outside the racecourse, by using Zoom to catch up with trainers and owners who might be watching at home. “We can link to a trainer right before or after the race, or watch the race with them in their living room,” he said.
There are opportunities as well. ITV is able to show six races rather than the usual five, and there is a chance to celebrate the Wellchild charity, which is based locally, as well as key workers. There is an expanded analysis role for Ruby Walsh, but he will be operating in a different part of the course because he is also in harness for Irish TV.
Presenter Ed Chamberlin said: “Ruby does brilliant tactical and race-riding analysis for us. He will be working for us remotely, in a Gary Neville role.”
One man sure to keep the energy levels up is Richard Hoiles, the ITV commentator. He said: “It might feel a bit strange for me shouting about horses of this quality without anyone else there, but I tend to get so into the race I don’t notice it. It’s only when you take the headphones off that you tend to notice it’s a bit like the Mary Celeste.”
And Chamberlin is philosophical about the assignment: “Of the sports I’ve watched during lockdown and without crowds I’d say that racing looks and sounds the most normal. Once they are running, you don’t tend to notice it as much as other sports. That said, there is nowhere sadder than an empty Cheltenham grandstand. But we will do our best. We know how much people look forward to this week.”
ITV Racing (Tomorrow to Friday, 1pm)