ITV Racing

It started on 4 October 1969 when the programme began to show horse racing from two courses each week rather than one, under the title "They're Off". In 1972 it changed to The ITV Seven, reflecting the number of races it showed each week. The ITV Seven was also the title of an accumulator bet where vast sums of money could be won if you correctly predicted the winners of all seven races.

The feature was sometimes known (especially in later years) as the ITV Six, the ITV Five or even the ITV Four, if fewer races were being shown. On these occasions, the bet would be on the remaining televised races and would be comparatively simpler to win, however it was still fairly difficult to win with, on just one bet.

The weekly live coverage came from racecourses such as Sandown Park, York, Newmarket, Doncaster, Newcastle and Redcar. More minor tracks like Warwick, Catterick and Market Rasen were also extensively featured, especially during the National Hunt season in the winter, when ITV had the rights to fewer of the big races. Meetings from Goodwood and Haydock Park appeared occasionally, and a meeting from Ascot was shown as a one-off in 1977 when the BBC were covering the Grand National at Aintree. From January 1980 onwards, meetings from Kempton Park were shown regularly - before that time, Kempton meetings were on the BBC and were featured on Grandstand.

When racing was impossible due to the weather, greyhound racing would often be shown instead (those were the days before all-weather horse racing).

In the 1980s ITV reduced its racing coverage, and often in the last years of World of Sport only one meeting would be shown. The last ITV Seven came from Kempton Park and Thirsk on 7 September 1985, three weeks before the last World of Sport, which only covered one meeting, at Redcar. ITV's midweek racing coverage had already been on Channel 4 since 22 March 1984; from 5 October 1985 the Saturday afternoon coverage also moved to the fourth channel, permanently becoming Channel 4 Racing, although it was reduced in scope considerably at the start of 1986, and would not become as extensive as it was in the ITV era until the late 1990s. For a few years ITV did continue to show The Derby, simulcasting Channel 4's coverage, but stopped doing so after the 1988 event.

In January 2016, it was announced that ITV had regained horse racing rights from Channel 4 to take effect from 1 January 2017.{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/horseracing/12077836/ITV-snatches-racing-rights-from-Channel-4.html|title=ITV snatches racing rights from Channel 4|last=Armytage|first=Marcus|date=1 January 2016|work=The Telegraph|access-date=17 January 2017}} 60 days of racing will be shown on ITV4, while 40 days of racing will be shown on ITV. ITV broadcasts big events such as the Grand National, Cheltenham Festival, Epsom Derby, Royal Ascot, Glorious Goodwood and British Champions Day, as well as regular Saturday meetings. ITV4 broadcasts The Opening Show, the morning preview programme similar to The Morning Line on Channel 4, and many other Saturday meetings, as well as the occasional weekday and Sunday meeting, at courses all over the UK and Ireland.

Over the years, the live coverage was presented by John Rickman (until 1977), Brough Scott, Ken Butler, (until 1980) Lord Oaksey (initially known on the programme as John Lawrence, and subsequently becoming John Oaksey after he succeeded to the peerage), and Derek Thompson and Jim McGrath (from 1981-1985). Race commentators were Tony Cooke and Bob Haynes (in the first couple of years), John Penney and Raleigh Gilbert (the main commentators from 1972 to 1980) and Graham Goode (the main commentator from 1981). But on occasions when ITV showed Greyhound Racing on World of Sport from Harringay, Crayford and Wembley Gary Newbon was the presenter and Reg Gutteridge the race commentator

Upon the programme's relaunch in 2017, Ed Chamberlin was announced as the main presenter, with Francesca Cumani joining him at the start of the flat season. Oli Bell presents the morning magazine programme, The Opening Show, and also acts as a relief presenter when Chamberlin or Cumani are unavailable. Rishi Persad, previously of the BBC and Channel 4 Racing, is also a relief presenter.

Richard Hoiles is the primary racing commentator, calling the channel's flagship meetings. In 2021, Hoiles also acted as a relief presenter at Wincanton when the four primary presenters were in Del Mar covering the Breeders' Cup. Mark Johnson is the ITV Racing's secondary commentator, calling races from the second meeting of the day. Ian Bartlett was the tertiary commentator until the 2022 Grand National, where he stepped down from the role after 18 years of calling the world's most famous steeplechase on terrestrial television. Bartlett still makes regular appearances on ITV as a racecourse commentator. Stewart Machin took over the tertiary commentary position in 2021, and occasionally covers the main meeting of the day when both Hoiles and Johnson are absent.

{{reflist}}

• [http://www.itv.com/racing ITV Racing] on itv.com
• {{ITVX|id=watch/itv-racing/2a4397|title=ITV Racing}}
• {{STV Player|id=summary/racing-live|title=STV Racing}}

{{Horse racing in Great Britain}}

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Category:1969 British television series debuts

Category:1985 British television series endings

Category:2017 British television series debuts

Category:1960s British sports television series

Category:1970s British sports television series

Category:1980s British sports television series

Category:2010s British sports television series

Category:2020s British sports television series

Category:British television series revived after cancellation

Category:British English-language television shows

Category:Horse racing mass media in the United Kingdom

Category:ITV (TV network)

Category:ITV Sport