'Racing needed some good news in this climate' - Ed Chamberlin on What A Shout

Dave Orton is joined by ITV Racing’s lead presenter Ed Chamberlin, Racing Post top tipster Paul Kealy and bet365's Pat Cooney on this week’s What A Shout.

The team react to the news that British racing will continue to have extensive free-to-air coverage on ITV until at least the end of 2023. Ed Chamberlin lets us know how the deal got across the line and what is in store for the next three years.

Chamberlin said on What A Shout: “Racing needed some good news in this climate. I stupidly thought we could get it done quite quickly as I come from the football world where they have a limited window where they do the deal. Racing does it completely differently and you’ve got to have an agreement with Arc, Jockey Club, RMG etc, which is complicated and difficult, but I’m very thankful to everybody because at times I thought it wasn’t going to happen."

He added: “My son still hasn’t forgiven me for leaving Sky Sports! I think at school when you’re that age, it’s quite cool to have your dad presenting the Premier League, but to be fair he’s got quite into the big-name horses. He’ll always know when Stradivarius or Battaash or Tiger Roll is running, but other than that he’s still a Southampton and Premier League man.

"McCoy turned to me on my first day and said ‘you’ve given up a warm studio with Neville, Carragher and Souness to come do this?’ and I was half-thinking ‘oh my God, what have I done?’ but it sort of created a bit of a siege mentality. I love proving people wrong and the easiest thing to do would be to pander to the demands of people on social media, but I was determined to stay on our path and that was to improve racing’s popularity."

The team also look at the big races this weekend, including the Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh, and give their Big Calls.

Ultimate Daily - our daily newsletters from Racing Post's experts, exclusive to the inbox of Ultimate Members' Club subscribers. To receive the newsletter subscribe at racingpost.com/members-club