Live from Aintree: 175th Grand National under starters orders
The Grand National returns to Aintree on Saturday
Since taking over the contract to broadcast horse racing across the UK six years ago, ITV has committed to presenting the sport as entertainment. Nowhere is this more important or more front and centre than coverage of the Grand National, the nation’s favourite – and among the world’s most watched – horse races.
The culmination of the three-day Grand National Festival, the 175th Grand National will take place on Saturday (15 April). Last year’s winner and recent Gold Cup fourth placed Noble Yeats will be bidding for a £1 million purse and seeking to join the likes of Red Rum and Tiger Roll as a multiple winner of the world’s greatest steeplechase.
Behind the scenes there is a seasoned and expert crew passionate about bringing all the colour and story of the race to screens. By all accounts though, the scale of the course and venue, the unusually large number of runners and the event’s history make Aintree a special and especially challenging race.
“The Grand National is the most watched horse race in the world, which brings its own issues,” says ITV Sport programme director Paul McNamara. “ITV is host broadcaster and provides the world feed. We’re constantly trying to innovate to give viewers the best seat in the house.”
Last year’s race was watched by 7.5 million UK viewers, while the rerun shown shortly after the live race was watched by 4.5 million, regularly making it the second most watched horse race in the UK sporting calendar.
“We’re constantly trying to innovate to give viewers the best seat in the house”
The Grand National Festival began on Thursday and has been covered in a morning show live from the course on ITV1 with five races a day broadcast live from 2-5pm. This will be extended to 6.15pm on Saturday. All coverage is simulcast on streaming service ITVX.
The 30-45 minutes between each race allows for an expansive build up. This includes talking to horse and rider connections such as stable staff and owners. “We are keen to include the grass roots of the sport and to make it an entertainment show rather than just focus on the racing,” says Liz Ampairee, ITV Racing’s PR.
Since 2017, ITV claims to have doubled the average audience viewing the big race meetings on the calendar. A typical four-hour show of major race meets like Cheltenham, Epsom and Aintree averages 1 million viewers. It has also increased the number of race days it covers from 94 in 2017 to over 120 this year, aired on ITV1 and ITV4.
The view from the Melling Road looking back up towards the grandstand
Festival coverage is also on Virgin Media in Ireland, while Racecourse Media Group’s own dedicated TV channel, Racing TV, will show the event in homes and 10,000 pubs across the UK and Ireland.
Main ITV presentation at Aintree is by Ed Chamberlin with co-host Francesca Cumani, alongside Grand National-winning jockeys Sir Anthony McCoy, Mick Fitzgerald and Ruby Walsh, providing pre- and post-race analysis.
Reporting around the course, looking at horses, talking to connections and interviewing jockeys are Rishi Persad, Alice Plunkett, Adele Mulrennan and Matt Chapman. Brian Gleeson is in the betting ring with Luke Harvey down at the starts and Chris Hughes out and about around the course. Oli Bell presents The Opening Show each day.
Global appeal
Racecourse Media Group (RMG), which handles media rights on behalf of racecourse operators including Aintree’s owner The Jockey Club, and HBA Media have secured 30 broadcasters, including Sport 24, who will broadcast the race on 27 airlines and cruise lines.
For the first time, Indian OTT sports streaming platform FanCode is broadcasting all three days of the Grand National Festival, while leading broadcast networks such as Viaplay (pan Europe), Setanta (Balkans and Eurasia) and Polsat (Poland) will showcase the fixture in Europe. SuperSport and ESPN Star+ will guarantee pan-regional live coverage across Africa, South America and the Caribbean.
CNN will cover the race for its flagship World Sport programme, which reaches over 370 million households, while Trans World Sport, the global sports magazine programme, will provide added exposure. Coverage of the race will also be widely available to news outlets across the world via Reuters and SNTV.
Dickon White, The Jockey Club’s regional director for the North West, said: “The wide range of interest from international broadcasters further endorses the Randox Grand National’s status as the world’s most famous Jumps race, if not the most famous horserace full stop. Working with RMG and HBA Media, we are delighted to attract what will be a truly global audience including via some of the biggest names in sports broadcasting.”