Important ITV set the right tone says Chamberlin
ED CHAMBERLIN is the first to admit that it has been his privilege – and luck – to present top class sport from the country’s premier racing and football venues.
He’s used to the ‘best seat in the house’. Yet no broadcast has assumed as much importance as today’s welcome return of ITV Racing which he will host from his spare room.
The first of three consecutive days of racing on terrestrial TV, it coincides with many of Flat racing’s elite horses making belated reappearances following the Covid-19 lockdown.
From the first two Classics of 2020 to key trials for the Derby and Oaks, and the Group One Coronation Cup at Newmarket today in which champion stayer Stradivarius takes on last year’s Epsom hero Anthony van Dyck and other proven performers, Chamberlin’s excitement and enthusiasm is discernible.
“If you can’t get excited about Pinatubo, you can’t get excited by anything,” says the presenter as Charlie Appleby’s unbeaten colt puts his huge reputation on the line in the Qipco 2000 Guineas tomorrow. He then cites Kevin Ryan’s Juan Elcano as a notable each-way chance for Yorkshire.
But he is also nervous because of the importance of striking the right tone and the self-confessed technophobe’s fears that the wi-fi will cut out at the most inopportune moment.
And Chamberlin and his cohost Francesca Cumani, based at her own home, also appreciate that other sports and broadcasters will be watching with even more interest to see what they can learn before they, too, resume.
“I am nervous. I am really looking forward to it but I am feeling a huge sense of responsibility,” the likable 46-year-old told The Yorkshire Post.
“Even though the racing is brilliant, and the action is going to be fabulous over the next three days, it will be important to get the tone right.
“There will be sports fans tuning in and thinking ‘why the hell is racing happening so soon after the lockdown and Cheltenham?’
“People have lost jobs, are on
This feels different. I don’t think I have done anything like this.
ITV presenter Ed Chamberlin on getting the tone right as the sport returns to TV.
furlough or, worst of all, have lost loved ones. This is a disease that has touched everyone and it goes on. This feels very different. I don’t think I have done anything like this before.”
Chamberlin hopes to use the ITV Racing platform to highlight the sport’s response to Covid-19 and the benevolence of so many to the national effort – he is very adept at bringing the ‘human touch’ to coverage.
It’s a story, he says, that will be told between seven top class races on each of the next three days – 21 in total – which will set the narrative for the 2020 Flat season.
Just as he is in awe of the work done by the BHA and others to ensure that racing could return on June 1, he tips his hat to the fixture planners for their inspired ingenuity.
Animated with anticipation, the former Sky Sports football anchor believes the quality of racing is such that it will attract new viewers.
And he hopes the watching public will be sympathetic. “This is the most complicated thing I have ever been involved with,” he let on before describing the cabling in his makeshift studio with a degree of bewilderment.
“As long as the technology from my director works. If the director loses his wi-fi, we are all in trouble.
“All of us should be focusing on
what we can do, not what we can’t do.
“Things are going to go wrong. This is new and the priority is to adhere to safety policy. We actually accept things will go wrong but we will do the best we can.”
To illustrate this, the only ITV representative at Newmarket will be roving reporter Rishi Persad who will be interviewing the key connections and Racing TV. Even commentator Richard Hoiles, the voice of the sport, will be calling the horses off the television from a remote studio.
And while Chamberlin, who draws inspiration from the unflappability of his great hero Des
Lynam, is worried that the words may be marginally out of sync with the pictures, he will be compensated by an even greater appreciation for a sport that he’s followed since childhood.
Now, as he prepares for this landmark broadcast, he understands how hard others work behind the cameras on raceday to ensure he looks the part and has all the necessary information at his disposal. He realises he has been “pampered”.
Not now. It means striking a deal with his daughter to act as his runner to supply refreshments while hoping a football doesn’t come crashing through the window as his son, a Southampton fan, impersonates James Ward-Prowse.
But there’s also hope that a successful return will see ITV Racing given an extended contract to continue showcasing the sport. The current broadcast deals ends at the end of this year, but viewing figures are increasing and the channel’s coverage much respected (it won a Bafta in 2017).
“When racing is united, it is such a powerful thing,” added Chamberlin before leaving to check the wi-fi again ahead of a broadcast that will aim to empathize, explain and entertain in equal measure.