This award isn’t just for us, it’s for everyone in racing
RACING has provided a number of ‘pinch me’ moments in my life but the biggest arrived last Sunday night, far away from any course.
I never envisaged a situation where I’d be part of a team that found itself front and centre at the BAFTAs, being mentioned alongside monster television programmes such as Happy Valley, Top Boy and Succession but here we are. This has been a week I will never, ever forget. When I arrived at the BAFTAs, I anticipated the Women’s World Cup, for Match of the Day, would win the award for Best Sports Coverage in 2023. I was thrilled and proud for ITV to be on the shortlist, alongside the Wimbledon men’s final.
As a former odds compiler, I’d have had the Women’s World Cup as 1-4 favourites but we see it every day in racing — hotpots don’t always oblige and the judges felt the way we covered the golden hour at Cheltenham, featuring Constitution Hill and Honeysuckle, deserved the gong. To be clear, this column isn’t me slapping my own back. I’m a cog in an exceptional team, from our director Paul McNamara to lads such as Adrian and Damo, who so brilliantly walk backwards around paddocks with heavy cameras while one of the presenters gives you their guide to the horses.
The award is for everyone. But the award left me thinking about racing — and why the sport needs to recognise the popularity we have and the drama we provided. When it all comes together, like it did in March 2023, racing is unbeatable and the possibilities for stories are limitless. We must seize on it. Let me take you back to the afternoon that enabled us to win the award. We first had Constitution Hill taking off like an aeroplane, his brilliance leaving us all spellbound. I will never forget that picture of him leaping, panther-like, across the final flight as he roared away with the Champion Hurdle. But then came Honeysuckle. I can remember the line I said before she and Rachael Blackmore went out on the course — ‘is it time for this partnership to have one, last dance?’ — and what happened in the following few moments was absolutely extraordinary.
I was praised by the judges for letting the pictures do the talking in the aftermath of their win but I didn’t have much choice — Sir Anthony McCoy, Ruby Walsh and Mick Fitzgerald were all so overcome with emotion, they were choked up and had difficulty speaking. What made this story so out of the ordinary were the circumstances around young Jack de Bromhead having been killed six months earlier; his father, Henry, is a class act and I can still see him shaking his fists, in a manner that was very unlike him, as Honeysuckle returned to be unsaddled. Jack is never far from anyone’s thoughts and that is why I felt it was important to dedicate the BAFTA to his memory. I had the loveliest message from Blackmore, our sport’s most famous face, telling me how much the support they have received means to the De Bromheads.
This is what makes racing unique. No other sport sees crowds coming together as one to lift someone up. There is no tribalism in racing and that allows horses such as Honeysuckle, Constitution Hill and, before them, Sprinter Sacre, Kauto Star and Istabraq to almost become public property.
I can see something similar happening this summer with Big Evs. He has got to the potential to be a ‘people’s horse’ and his story, with owners Paul and Rachael Teasdale running the flying machine in honour of their late, great mate Paul Evans, is utterly compelling.
It is our absolute privilege to be in the position to broadcast it all and beam it in to your homes every week. We will continue to back ourselves at ITV and racing must back itself, knowing the product on show is appealing to all. This BAFTA wasn’t just good news for us — it was good news for everyone.