I don't remember Stelling presenting MNF on a regular basis.

He may at a different point in his career now and a move might appeal, sky have lost the champions league and with the amount they've shelled out on the PL they might not get it back.

Holt is superb. Although my favourite is Ian Bartlett though commentator wise.

On the question of what is wrong with C4, for me they are not out and about on the racecourse (in the widest sense) enough. Too much chat in their 'capsule' and too many replays showing off their gimmicks.

Just a personal view, but I want to feel I'm out there with the crowd rather than stuck inside with Fitzgerald, McCoy, and similar bores. Preview and Review is fine but not if done to excess.

The most irritating habit of C4 is to gabble through the list of runners and riders and to switch off the race card before any viewer has had a chance to do more than glance at the details. Do they imagine we all have a race card to hand at home?
Lets hope ITV gets at least that right.

itv have said it is likely itv coverage will be from the tracks and itv4 coverage is likely to be studio based.

So there could be two types of coverage with two different presenting teams.

This will keep us going for a year

Supports the theory they will go for an events presenter (inverdale) for ITV1 and a racing presenter (Persad) for ITV4
My guesses in brackets.

Re the earlier point about C4 not getting out and about enough, I agree completely.
I think ITV should try to find the new Big Mac and get them out there engaging with the punters.

They need Chapman to do this as the one who gets out and about with the jockeys and punters not as the studio presenter.

Just watch Chapman then watch Bob Cooper how much different can the two be the jockeys and owners faces when Cooper walks towards them compared to Chapman.

Tony Ennis could be the stats man as he seems to have been forgotten by everyone and there is a lack of ethnics in racing.

Actually I'm wondering if ITV are seriously trying to revive World of Sport? All they need to do is buy in an hour of wrestling highlights, show some football results, maybe revive On The Ball when England are playing the following week, and they'd have the bare bones of this old show.

I'd like to see Malcolm 'Blasting home' Tomlinson given a role on the new coverage as commentator, put Holt, Hoiles and especially Bartlett out to grass.

Someone like John Hunt would make a good presenter as he has now got more experience due to the R5 stuff, also if they could tempt Jeff Stelling to from the coverage it would be a major coup but I doubt he would want to leave Soccer Saturday.

Love Malcolm Tomlinson, definitely my favourite race caller on the flat.

Weird to hear him pop up at Southwell the other day. A track where they normally finish well strung out and tight finishes are very rare.

Purely out of interest what is it you dont like about Holt and Hoiles, no one else really seems to complain about them.

I have never liked Simon Holt his voice is monotone, boring he is the Dessie of British racing same old every race, like Dessie he can get excited every once in a while in a big race but generally it's the same.

Richard Hoiles and John Hunt make their commentaries interesting I hope itv try someone new but I think Holt will be moving over to itv.

Holt is superb. Best commentator on TV in any sport for me. The nickname 'languid' that Big Mac gave him sums him up perfectly. A wonderful caller and reader of a race. The amount of times he will spot the winner at halfway is incredible. And he has an amazing turn of phrase. There has never been a better horse racing commentator.

Well we are on opposite ends here because I think his voice is monotonous and I would put him near the bottom of my list of commentators.

I judge my commentators on what comes out of their mouth not the tone in which it i said and his reading of a race is superb.

From Racing Post

FORMER Channel 4 presenter John Francome warned that racing faces an uphill task to recapture the viewers lost in recent years - and he expressed fears that the new television deal with ITV may be racing's last, such has been the decline in audiences of late.

"Whoever has the task of getting the viewing figures back up has a big job on their hands," he said. "I think they have got a long uphill struggle. They have let it go a long way, and it won't be the biggest surprise if this is the last TV contract racing gets."

Francome was speaking on Sunday, a day on from the official confirmation that ITV had won the rights to broadcast racing for four years from January 2017 in a £30 million deal, news the Racing Post broke on Friday night.

When Highflyer lost the contract to IMG, Francome quit Channel 4 as a token of loyalty to his former boss Andrew Franklin, of whom he said: "They should never have got rid of him. The people who got rid of him should stand up now and say a big sorry to him; the people who didn't like Highflyer should put their hands up and say they were wrong.

"They don't understand television and he is a television man, he knew it is an entertainment medium. They got rid of Alex Ferguson when they got rid of him.

"They took over a very healthy human being and they have let it go so that it is a job to register its heartbeat at the moment."

'Good competition'

Fellow former presenter Mike Cattermole is not surprised racing has chosen to go with ITV in preference to Channel 4 or Sky in a bid to increase the audience, and believes the move offers opportunities for racing.

"Given that the viewing figures were falling off a cliff I can understand why racing would be looking at trying to do something about it," he said.

"ITV has got quite an interesting portfolio of sports. It has changed a lot in the last two or three years and it seems very keen and hungry to make a success of it, which can only be good for racing.

"ITV4 did very well with the Rugby World Cup and it could be that racing has decided it wants to make sure that its showcase events get the coverage that they feel they deserve on ITV1.

"With At The Races and Racing UK putting on such really good stuff these days, it will be good competition."

Read more reaction and views on racing's rights deal in today's Racing Post - also available on iPad NOW.

They both count and you need to be able to provide information and do it in an interesting and engaging fashion which Simon and Des Scahill fail to do,

You are very much in a minority there.

What do you mean by the Tony Ennis comments ?

That they will need a diverse team and the only two racing presenters from a non white background are really Richi Persad and Tony Ennis and I believe one of those two will be taken on in the same way I believe the female side of racing will be filled by either Alex Hammond or Zoe Bird.

I believe Tony Ennis will be taken on by itv I am surprised he is not in the betting.

I really don't see what a person's racial background has to do with anything. Rishi should be judged on the fact that he is very good in front of the camera and pretty witty. I didn't realise Tony Ennis was from a non white background, not that it is relevant.

The betting is for lead presenter.

No the betting is for presenter or pundit

NB To appear as a presenter or pundit on the first live ITV Coverage (Not Guest)


Show Special1st ITV Racing Meeting Presenter/Pundit (Not Guest)Win Only
Matt Chapman EVS
Jeremy Kyle 5/2
Oli Bell 5/2

and are you saying if itv employed 10 white males aged 20-30 there wouldn't be a scandal as to why there were no women or ethnic minorities or older people on the show.

Of course they have to look at age, colour and gender of the presenters and pundits.

New ATR pundit Hayley Turner must be worth a £1 at 50-1 just to be a pundit

No I am saying people should be judged on their talent, like Rishi not on his ethnic background. What is Tony Ennis background ?

Sad to see C4 lose the rights as they've covered racing for decades but the changes they made three years ago have resulted in declining audiences with many popular presenters being replaced with less popular ones. Hopefully ITV can reverse the fall in audiences and do it with some fresh blood in terms of race commentators and presenters and with more focus on the horses, the stables and the people who work in the industry and less reviews of a race and waffle from studio pundits.

One concern is it seems the present number of 91 race days will be less on ITV1 with the bulk on ITV4 which may not increase the reach and appeal which is the main reason given for ITV getting coverage. Apparently Sky were very close to getting the deal which would have meant the end of terrestrial coverage.

It's a tough nut for ITV to crack, but what is clear is that they can't simply offer more of the same that C4 have if they want to improve ratings.

Random thoughts on who I'd like to see (of those with experience/being mooted) as part of the coverage team and a couple of other things;

Yes

Matt Chapman
Simon Holt
Richard Hoiles
AP McCoy
Rishi Persad (of the 'new' C4 team, he is the one who has really grown into the role)
Jim McGrath (TF, not Aussie)
Gina Harding
Tony Ennis (another who has improved a lot over the last few years)

No

John McCririck (he's had his day)
Derek Thompson (just no)
Tanya Stevenson
Mick Fitzgerald (a nice bloke, but adds nothing)
Emma Spencer
Sean Boyce (again, a decent enough bloke, but almost allergic to giving an opinion)

Maybe

Mike Cattermole (I'm not a huge fan, but he's a decent option)
Nick Luck (I quite like him as a presenter, but I'd pick Chapman over him as a lead)
Alice Plunkett
Alastair Down (not as a presenter, but for 'colour' pieces, he's great)
Clare Balding (I generally find her irritating, but she has gravitas. Won't do it anyway)
Graham Cunningham (don't mind him as much as some, but wouldn't miss him)
Oli Bell (I quite like him, but not sure he'd be the right main presenter)



Jeremy Kyle is an interesting one. My initial thought was 'absolutely not', but he is an enthusiast, and something makes me think he could do a decent job. Obviously the downside is what he is known for, and whether that's an image that racing wants to be associated with.

The whole thing needs a completely fresh angle on the betting front. I've seen it suggested that C4's coverage is too focused on betting. That's nonsense. It may be too focused on tedious interviews with bookmaker PR reps, but that's not the same thing.

There's space for some intelligent analysis of the betting market that isn't there now. I really hope they don't bring Tanya Stevenson over, because presentationally she's terrible. It's a difficult role to fill, as those who really know what they're on about are out there backing their opinion, rather than sitting on a sofa speaking it. It has to be better than now though. Someone at least willing to take a proper reasoned view (and Jim McGrath does do so, in fairness) and hold their hands up if they get it wrong. Not a couple of minutes of waffle before "the favourite has a great chance, but I could see the second favourite going close", and then trying to make out that one of the pundits had "made a bit of a case for the winner" when something unfancied hacks up.

I wouldn't mind a bit more involvement from some of the decent racing journalists who write some of the important stories, though I appreciate this is probably a bit better suited to the magazine show than the main coverage. Not just the likes of Claude Duval, Alan Lee etc. Greg Wood is excellent, and has a lot of intelligent comment to make on racing. Chris Cook is another.

I'd like less focus on jockeys. It's all a bit boring. We know there's not a great deal said when a jockey makes an obvious balls up of it, compared to the fawning when a big name gets the job done on a horse that should be winning anyway. By all means have McCoy there to give insight, but (much) less of the 'everyone in the weighing room is a great lad' we get now from Mick Fitz.

More focus on the horses. I know you can't have someone there giving a full rundown of the bloodline of every runner, given the need to appeal to the casual viewer, but someone who can add something on that and link back to big names of the past. A good paddock watcher would be welcome too. Jim McGrath is always interesting when he does that role. Nick Mordin perhaps?

I appreciate Matt Chapman is not everyone's cup of tea, but you have got someone who loves the sport, is always enthusiastic, and is not afraid to give an opinion (popular or unpopular). If he rubs a trainer up the wrong way, and they refuse to speak to the cameras, then they should simply say so on the coverage instead of skirting around it. In any case, if anyone thinks he can't do 'serious', I'd suggest watching some of his interviews with Sir Henry Cecil. They were excellent; just the right mix of serious questioning and having some fun.

Phew. That was a much longer post than I was intending when I started it! I'm a racing enthusiast, and over the years I've put more money than I'd care to add up into the sport one way or another, and I want to see it succeed. I really do hope ITV can do a job.

Just for info - Alan Lee died a couple of weeks ago.