@mini me -- Hands up if you want to see horses walking round the paddock, going down to the start, maybe some local news and interviews with racegoers.

I really don't want to see interviews with racegoers. What other sport does this? Even if Fat Freddie is the best tipsterer in his local Laddies, we viewers have no way of knowing that so he is just another pished-up yokel. Gary Lineker doesn't ask the guy in row Z if Wayne Rooney will play deep today.

hayley sounds like a cat with its throat cut
no wonder jamie jumped off
not for me now itv have taken over with that shower of twits

ramruna..........don't matter how good a judge you are if you cant string a couple of sentences together it kind of defeats the object...........

@hulk23 -- only chance of getting a new crowd interested is to ... ...

ITV should forget about new crowds and cater in the first instance to existing fans, most of whom have not subscribed to ATR or RUK, for the simple reason they are at work during the week. Its starting assumption should be that viewers are watching because they are interested, even if they might not know all of the technicalities. Channel 4 often seemed to think viewers were idiots who'd tuned in accidentally when the cat sat on the remote control.

We should all be very grateful that Tarn & Fitzy are not part of ITV's team.
I'd like a weekly forum vote for us to send a forumite on for a 5 minute slot on the morning line, should there be one.

itv could do worse than introduce a free bet like soccer saturday do, say guess the finishing order of the first 3 home in 3 impossible handicaps, with a consolation prize if you get the 3 horses but in the wrong order, the probability of getting it would be very remote but it would get the public involved and interested, also have someone doing form who is a an actual punter going round the ring backing his fancies - the program suddenly becomes reality tv, now that could catch on

whats happening with Cunningham,please don`t tell me the windbag is going to part of the itv "revolution"

Cunningham will reintroduce his tipping line and fitzys is going to try his hand at busking

AS delta out it 2 of Amy Weavers ex's, i presume he means Sally Anne and Hayley .
she might make a comeback and have a threesome ffs Delta Sally Anne is no more gay , she's has quite rightly earned a nickname of the MOBILE **** in IRELAND, jockeys just luv her silken mouth

deltas not normally wrong imo

I hate 'broadcasters' but .. Rishi Persad is ok imho. He's not: self-regarding, pompous or obsequious. He seems to be: modest and interested and he speaks well. OK he may not be a racing expert but I still think he's a good choice.

Surely any person who punts for anything more than idle recreation wouldn't watch ITV anyway- they will have subs to ATR and RUK.

A non-thread so far as us cognoscenti are concerned- sorry.

If the ITV team announced by ThunderRoad is accurate and not a bad-taste joke then it is  certainly doomed. Among that motley lot there is not a single pundit of depth. Jim McGrath (not the fat heart-attack-pending Aussie), John Francome and Graham Cunningham must be included and as regards eye candy forget Hayley and Hayley and bring on the ever-youthful Dot Cotton lookalike Tanya! Wow - what a gal !!

I wont be watching  at least Lucky will be back on RUK

MICK FITZGERALD will add a former jump jockey's perspective to the new ITV racing team after he was on Sunday revealed as the latest addition to the channel's roster for next year.

Hot on the heels of the news that Britain's most successful female rider Hayley Turner has been signed up by ITV bosses, the Grand National winner will also join a cast to be fronted by ex-Sky Sports football anchor Ed Chamberlin.

Fitzgerald, 46, was rumoured to be in the reckoning for a role and, although he declined to comment on Sunday, his agent Jon Holmes revealed the switch had been rubber-stamped.

"Mick will be part of the team," he said. "I don't know any more at this stage, that's where we are at the moment."

Fitzgerald is the second personality to move to ITV from Channel 4 Racing following Rishi Persad, as the broadcaster prepares to take over the sport's terrestrial rights on a four-year contract from January 1.

Since being forced to retire through injury in 2008, the former leading rider, who amassed 1,303 victories during a glittering career that featured not only a National victory on Rough Quest but also a Cheltenham Gold Cup triumph on See More Business, has turned his talents to the media, working for a number of organisations including the BBC.

Fitzgerald started a full-time presenting role for At The Races soon after hanging up his saddle and joined Channel 4 as a pundit in 2013, since when he has covered Flat racing as well as jumps.

The other confirmed members of the ITV team to be revealed so far are Francesca Cumani, Oli Bell and Sally Ann Grassick.

Mick Fitzgerald + ITV Racing =  R I P terrestrial racing coverage

I had some serious reservations over Turner, but the appointment of Fitzgerald defies belief !!  Appalling in every way.

The Fitzgerald and to a slightly lesser extent Turner appointments send out a clear signal that any change in the ITV format is likely to be cosmetic.I really fear for the future of terrestrial broadcasting of racing because when this contract ends in failure there'll be nowhere else to go.

Fitzgerald and Turner. I'm struggling to think of two worse ex-jockeys they could've got to fill the role.

Turner is absolutely abysmal on television. I don't generally agree with the whole "oh, they're only in to fill a quota" (for example, I like Rishi, and I'm glad he's moving over) but there's no way that Turner would be given the job if she were just another male jockey. Having said that, Fitzgerald continues to get work, so who knows.