Hammond is wide awake for some new Sky thinking
IF YOU want to find a cure for insomnia, ask Alex Hammond. She says she is an expert. Fifteen years of driving on a neardeserted M4 to front the early shift on Sky Sports News has meant she has endured hours of listening to radio discussions in the wee hours on how to go back to sleep.
But from Tuesday, everything will change for Hammond when she switches broadcasting saddles. Hers will be the first face viewers will see when Sky Sports Racing launches at 9am on January 1.
For Hammond, the most significant personal impact will be returning to a more normal routine after a decade and a half of getting up at 1.30am.
The presenter says she has never over-slept because of her own particular triple insurance policy.
‘I have three alarm clocks just because of fear of not waking up,’ she says, ‘but I have never missed a shift so they have obviously worked.
‘I have one by the bed, one on a dresser and one in the hallway. The one on the hallway is vile – you would not want that to go off!’
Investing in a sledgehammer to smash those annoyingly noisy clocks is a New Year’s resolution for Hammond, who by moving to a dedicated racing channel is also making a return to her broadcasting roots. Hammond was previously married to trainer Micky Hammond and to former jockey Richard Quinn, and she was an original presenter on the now-defunct Racing Channel.
Hammond says: ‘I had four great years at the old Racing Channel from 1998. When that closed down, I got a post on Sky Sports News and I have been there ever since. ‘I love rugby, football, tennis and cricket, but racing is my passion and so are horses. I used to do a bit of show-jumping and Pony Club as a kid. When you do something you already love it is not an easy decision to move. But racing is my No1 passion. I know I have made right decision.’ Sky Racing takes over from Attheraces, which shuts down tomorrow. Sky Racing promises to give racing ‘the Sky treatment’. The broadcasting rights to show Irish race meetings have been lost to subscription channel rival Racing TV, but there have been important additions. Sky Racing gets the nonterrestrial rights to Ascot from March, and so will be able to broadcast the Royal meeting in June. Sky Racing has also gained nonterrestrial rights to show action from jumps course Bangor and Flat track Chester.
There will also be a diet of topclass action from across the Channel in a joint venture with racecourse operator ASC.
Will the new channel be a gamechanger for the broadcasting of British racing?
Racing’s current terrestrial rights-holder, ITV, has had its coverage well-received generally since it took over from Channel 4 two years ago. ITV’s contract runs to the end of 2020, and many see the new Sky Racing Channel as a toe being dipped in the water, a precursor to bidding for those wider rights in two years.
Cricket, golf and Formula One have moved to Sky, often abandoning the wider reach of a terrestrial broadcaster for the deeper pockets of a satellite channel.
Money talks, especially for a constantly cash-strapped sport. The birth and development of Sky Racing could be significant and not just because it affords Hammond a well-deserved lie-in.