Megan Nicholls set to front ITV's Racing League coverage on Thursday - but only two of the seven races fill to capacity

Megan Nicholls is relishing the chance to bring the Racing League to ITV viewers this year as she embraces a new position as lead presenter.

The former jockey and regular television pundit will enter new territory on Thursday when fronting the ITV4 coverage for the first time, guiding viewers through the first of the Racing League fixtures at Yarmouth.

"I'm really excited to try something new," said Nicholls. "Hopefully we can try to get more people interested and watch it and enjoy it as a fun Thursday evening. I'll be doing the six meetings and hopefully I can pay back the people who have supported me."

While only two of the seven races have filled to the required 14 runners, including the feature £75,000 1m2f handicap (8.40), Nicholls believes the soft conditions have worked against the first fixture.

She said: "It's a shame Yarmouth is going to be on the soft side after such a dry summer, but we've still got some decent-sized fields. I think the declaration numbers are purely because of the ground."

Team Wales and the West celebrated success at the 2024 Racing LeagueCredit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

Nicholls is aware of some of the criticism directed towards the Racing League, which is in its fifth year, but also believes it provides those from a non-racing background with a new avenue into the sport while also offering excellent prize-money to connections.

She said: "People probably aren't totally sold on the team idea. It's a tricky one because we have so much racing and often the preferred six trainers and jockeys aren't available and you end up with a lot of people getting added. 

"George Boughey's on Team Ireland and you think 'how on earth has that happened?', so it is slightly confusing, but the reality of it is you're not going to have every member of Team Ireland training from Ireland, or every member of Team Scotland training from Scotland. It becomes a strange concept for people to accept.

"However, you can't deny this prize-money is very, very good for the level of racing, and we do see competitive fields. There's quite often some improving three-year-olds who end up going right up in grade, and some of the open handicaps can produce high-quality horses. They aren't egg-and-spoon races, the majority of them are 0-90 or above."

On how she will be feeling when the cameras roll on Thursday, she added: "Inevitably, I will be slightly nervous, but I think once I've got my opener out the way I'll be too busy to think about stuff."

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