ITV Racing is back! Here's all the details of our coverage
ITV will show 41 days of horse racing coverage live on its main channel, beginning on New Year's Day 2017 at Cheltenham.
The 41 days of exclusive coverage includes racing's most celebrated events: the Grand National, The Epsom Derby, all the major festivals including Cheltenham and Royal Ascot, the Five Classics, plus other highlights of the racing calendar such as Future Champions Day at Newmarket and Champions Day at Ascot.
In addition, ITV4's racing coverage will see a re-introduction of free-to-air broadcasts of the Craven Meeting at Newmarket in April. ITV will show two days including the Nell Gwyn and Craven Stakes, key trials for the 1000 and 2000 Guineas.
ITV’s overall racing coverage, produced by ITV Sport, will encompass live broadcasts of almost 100 days of racing each year, in addition to a magazine preview programme broadcast each Saturday morning on ITV4.
Ed Chamberlin is the main presenter, bringing a lifelong passion for racing to the job as well as his considerable broadcasting experience. Ed's co-presenter for the Flat season will be Francesca Cumani, with the dynamic Matt Chapman as betting presenter and reporter.
Oli Bell will present the morning magazine show, with Richard Hoiles as lead commentator, alongside Mark Johnson.
Experts along for the ride include legendary jockey AP McCoy, plus Hayley Turner, Mick Fitzgerald, Jason Weaver, Luke Harvey, Brian Gleeson and Brough Scott.
The unique figure of Frankie Dettori will also appear and Victoria Pendleton will bring her special perspective to the channel’s coverage.
Rishi Persad, Sally-Ann Grassick and Alice Plunkett all have reporting roles, while Lucy Verasamy will provide reports on one of the key elements of any race meeting – the weather.
The deal further enhances ITV’s portfolio of world-class sports rights, which includes the Tour de France, 6 Nations Rugby, French Open tennis and exclusive live coverage of the England football team’s qualification campaign for the 2018 World Cup.
Race meetings to be shown live on ITV (main channel) in 2017:
January
Sun 1 - Cheltenham and Musselburgh
March
Tue 14 - Cheltenham Festival
Wed 15 - Cheltenham Festival
Thu 16 - Cheltenham Festival
Fri 17 - Cheltenham Festival
April
Thu 6 - Aintree Grand National Meeting
Fri 7 - Aintree Grand National Meeting
Sat 8 - Aintree Grand National Meeting
Sat 22 - Ayr & Newbury (Scottish Grand National)
Sat 29 - Sandown and Haydock (jumps finale)
May
Sat 6 - Newmarket and Goodwood (2,000 Guineas)
Sun 7 - Newmarket and Hamilton (1,000 Guineas)
Sat 20 - Newbury and Newmarket (Lockinge)
June
Fri 2 - Epsom Derby Meeting
Sat 3 - Epsom Derby Meeting
Tue 20 - Royal Ascot
Wed 21 - Royal Ascot
Thu 22 - Royal Ascot
Fri 23 - Royal Ascot
Sat 24 - Royal Ascot
July
Sat 1 - Newcastle and Newmarket (Northumberland Plate)
Sat 8 - Sandown and Haydock (Eclipse)
Sat 15 - ‘Super Saturday’ (Newmarket, Ascot, York)
Sat 29 - Ascot and York (King George)
August
Tue 1 - Glorious Goodwood
Wed 2 - Glorious Goodwood
Thu 3 - Glorious Goodwood
Fri 4 - Glorious Goodwood
Sat 5 - Glorious Goodwood
Wed 23 - York Ebor
Thu 24 - York Ebor
Fri 25 - York Ebor
Sat 26 - York Ebor
September
Sat 9 - Haydock, Ascot and Kempton (Sprint Cup)
Sat 16 - Doncaster and Chester (St Leger)
October
Sat 14 - Newmarket and York (Dewhurst)
Sat 21 - Ascot (British Champions Day)
November
Sat 18 - Cheltenham and Lingfield (Open Meeting, Middle Day)
Sat 25 - Haydock and Ascot (Betfair Chase)
December
Sat 2 - Newbury & Newcastle (Hennessy/Fighting Fifth)
Tue 26 - Kempton and Wetherby (King George)