Is ITV Racing 'dead on arrival'

Genuinely want it to work as it's great for the sport overall. Just don't think they have the proposition right and suspect bar the major meetings this will be the final chances.

A bit like newspapers who now leave out racecards

There will be more Greyhound racing on free to air TV between now and  March then

Any racing production looking to inform and entertain with the likes of Turner, Fitzy and Plunkett is shambolic from day 1...

Fitzgerald, Turner and Plunkett likely to be marginalised but may come too late

ITV had a great opportunity to re-vamp racing coverage but sadly they've employed the odious Plunkett and the irritant Fitzgerald.

I've actually changed my opinion on Rishi Persad - he's come on leaps and bounds the last couple of years.

Ed Chamberlain is a class act and Chapman will be very good I think.

But the majority of the coverage being on ITV4 is very worrying for the future of the sport.

Surely it must be blatantly obvious to ITV how poor Fitzy and Turner are. Plunkett must have friends somewhere in the television industry. She should not in anyway way be in front of a camera.

sometime things happen in the world that genuinely puzzles me.. americans making donald trump president .brits voting to leave the eu.liverpool signing andy carroll.dylan hartley captaining england.thommos continued presence commentating on races.  but signing up mick fitz for itv takes the biscuit!!....hes just simply plain awful.i wonder had the itv crew seem and heard  him at all?

Have to permanently mute ATR with Fitzgerald now. Voice makes me quite unwell

Think they're points we could all make lads, I forgot about Luke and Jason, not sure where I stand with those guys; they seem almost too comfortable on ATR and feel they can get away with anything. Maybe a stronger hand on Luke in particular could help. There is a genuine warmth about Luke Harvey that could play well with the terrestrial audience.

The team looks too big, anyway. I'd forgotten about the two lads.

I wouldn't particularly miss him, but I'm surprised they went with Fitzy over McCoy; maybe McCoy didn't want to take a job off of a mate. Can see McCoy replacing Mick at some stage; just much higher profile and lets be honest, more articulate.

briefly took mute off ATR, car parks full, racing is thriving according to Fitzy....sadly it is not Mick..

I wouldn't have McCoy either but I thought they'd go with him.

ITV 4 does have a mix of sports so maybe now racing on tv has so few viewers this is its natural home.

I'm all in favour as it gets rid of Chapman now and again off ATR.

As previously mentioned, Fitzgerald & Plunkett are dreadful appointments, and I feel Hayley Turner will be way out of her depth.


The only person I can't suffer is the pouted one. Way out of her depth. I like Gina and Tanya and although I don't know the full line up if Jimbo isn't there I will not be a viewer.

Some don't like him but I for one rate Cunningham. Is he also a non-starter?

They need something to get people excited eg. Harry F and R Riley in the betting ring.

stewartyb, from what I have read..Jimbo and GC are non runners!



In that case OVERSEAS I will watch the first programme and then become a non runner myself!

and his tipping line stopped because it was in profit............I think not

Paul Cooper, deputy racing editor at ITV Sport, will be in charge of The Opening Show, the equivalent of Channel 4's The Morning Line and he spoke to Mark Popham about plans for the programme which will go out for the first time on ITV4 at 1000 on Saturday, January 7, six days after ITV's first live racing broadcast from the Cheltenham on New Year's Day.

One of the most notable decisions already taken by the new ITV racing team is to put the start time for The Opening Show back an hour from The Morning Line's usual 9am kick-off. But a 10am start is something all concerned are evidently happy about.

Cooper, recruited earlier this year from At The Races, declared: "The new time has been well received by the people we have spoken to. Saturday mornings are busy times for people in racing and 10am is a nice start time.

"In the winter, there will be a lot more people at the racecourse at that time, with the first race at noon or shortly afterwards. Second inspections are likely to take place during the programme and we will usually have an hour-long broadcast."

Obviously, a lot of potential viewers will be out and about at that time on Saturday morning, with plenty travelling to the races but ITV is hoping many of them will be still able watch The Opening Show on their mobiles. It will also be available on ITV4+1 at 11am.

Cooper explained about the structure of the new show: "The Opening Show will be a magazine-type programme.

"Its aim is very much to cater for both racing fans and more casual viewers, but we are not trying to dumb it down.

"Oli Bell will be the main presenter on Saturday mornings and will be joined usually by two other people - an ITV expert like Luke Harvey, Mick Fitzgerald, Jason Weaver or Hayley Turner, and then there will be another guest, probably someone from the racing world.

"We have been sounding out guests in advance - jockeys, trainers and owners - and the response has been very encouraging.

"Matt Chapman will be a part of the programme too - bombing around the racecourse from 10am, very similar to what he does on At The Races.

"We are planning 62 programmes in 2017 - 52 Saturdays, along with the four days of the Cheltenham Festival, Thursday and Friday of the Grand National meeting at Aintree and Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of Royal Ascot. The Cheltenham and the Grand National ones will be an hour and a half - 9.30am until 11am.

"The programme will come live from an ITV-branded set on racecourses - inside in the winter but outside if possible in the summer. All the racecourses have been very accommodating about positions inside and out.

"Nearly all the positions we have signed off so far have a nice backdrop of the racecourse or part of it. We might do one or two from trainer's yards - I thought that worked well latterly for Channel 4."

A fourth person for The Opening Show is possibility from time to time and there will be a racing feature every week  - either a focus on connections behind a horse in action or something non-standard.

"Victoria Pendleton has done a series of six behind-the-scenes features which will go into the early weeks of the programme. I found these interesting when filming them and I think my wife will too," said Cooper.

"We are trying to inform both people in racing and those from outside and features like a day in the life of a racehorse should do that."

Cooper is hoping a review of the day's papers, as far as racing goes, and a look at the latest racing news will be a regular part of the Saturday morning programmes.

He concluded: "Not every programme is going to be the same - we want to keep it fresh - it will be more of a magazine show than a preview show, but the whole premise will be to showcase what is on ITV that afternoon.

"Hopefully, people will enjoy The Opening Show and then watch the racing on ITV in the afternoon."

While Matt Chapman is comfortable about his new role in the ITV racing squad rather than taking centre stage, don't expect him to be standing still.

He revealed: "I would like to think that the broadcasting is the easy part - whereas the hierarchy may be worried, it is not something that is worrying me.

"I hope I will have a vaguely developing role at ITV. I will be in betting rings for ITV and will not have the owners, trainers and jockeys to play off but I will have the betting fraternity.

"I want to try and bring some movement to the ring - the one thing that has been very obvious since betting was ever done on TV is that, from John McCririck to Tanya (Stevenson), they are standing pretty still. I will be a bit disappointed if I'm standing still very much - the betting ring is a place of movement.

"I will be pointing out the differences in prices and making sure people understand which is better. I hope to do this in a fairly jolly way!

"The market is probably the biggest clue that you are going to have in finding winners. A high percentage of races are won by the first three in the market so you have immediately narrowed down the field in most cases.

"For me, it is like stocks and shares and I want to engage punters. I want to talk to people - that is what I do. 

"I want to simplify betting as much as possible without annoying everyone who knows all about it.

"The Opening Show role will be more like my ATR role where I have a free rein, though I have a relatively small part to play, with probably three appearances of a couple of minutes each.

"I will continue to see what I see and tell it as I see it. Obviously, a terrestrial TV channel has more restrictions on what a presenter is likely to put forward to the public than a dedicated satellite channel for a particular sport so I will try and choose my words carefully without changing my persona."

Oli Bell is to become the regular face of The Opening Show and provide a continuity to the new ITV programme which some felt was missing from The Morning Line.

The youthful Bell commented: "We want to bring in new people to watch The Opening Show and for instance Luke Harvey is doing a series called jargon busting, each about 30 seconds long, which will be part of the process.

"I come from a racing family so the sport is in my blood, but I go to the races as a fan. I want to convey the excitement of forthcoming big races to the viewers.

"We are fundamentally a magazine programme which is there to educate and set up what is coming on ITV Racing in the afternoon.

"There is a lot of nostalgia we can touch on. For me and people of my age who may not understand the historical context of races, there will be ITV archive footage to show.

"Racing is a sport which is brilliant because there are so many stories to be told and so many people to tell them, whether they are a stable lad, an owner, a trainer or a jockey.

"We want to make the show as enjoyable as we can - what ITV offers is a platform to be seen and heard by a lot of people.

"This is a huge job for me and I am aware of the pressure and the responsibility as much as anyone."

Bell's introduction on ITV Racing will be at Musselburgh on New Year's Day afternoon, with races shown from the Scottish course as well as from Cheltenham.

looks v much as expected...same sh1t different channel

Head and shoulders above the whole crowd is Gary O'Brien

Shame he is Irish , surely must be brought over for Cheltenham and Aintree